Avtovaz to hand subsidiary to Russian Technologies to cover debt
MOSCOW. June 22 (Interfax) - The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) has given the green light for state corporation Russian Technologies to acquire 100% of AvtovazTrans (AVT), a transport subsidiary of carmaker Avtovaz , the regulator said.
Russian Technologies will acquire 763,992,092 common shares in the haulage company.
The companies are not commenting on the details of the deal. Interfax sources familiar with the deal said it could be done without cash, to pay off some loans to the state company.
The Russian government in 2009 lent Avtovaz 75 billion rubles through Russian Technologies, a shareholder of the carmaker, in interest-free loans of 25 billion rubles, 12 billion rubles, 28 billion rubles and 10 billion rubles.
Avtovaz and Russian Technologies in June 2012 agreed to extend the term of the loan for 25 billion rubles to 2032 from 2019. Avtovaz paid off the loan of 12 billion rubles at the end of last year, and reported that its debt to Russian Technologies stood at about 42.2 billion rubles at the beginning of 2012.
AVT, which has been in operation since October 1966, handles truck and rail haulage, and maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and rail transport. The company's revenues nearly doubled to 1.2 billion rubles in 2011, according to the SPARK database; it had a net profit of 64.7 million rubles in 2010 compared to a loss in 2009. The company has not released a financial statement for 2011.
AVT has an operations center of more than 16,000 square meters, and a fleet of more than 390 motor vehicles. The railroad division operates on 40 km of intra-plant track with six shunting locomotives and 71 railcars. AVT annually carries about 1.5 million tonnes of freight and 130,000 Lada cars by rail.