TransMashHolding to purchase 50% stake in Kazakh producer of GE diesel locomotives
ST. PETERSBURG. June 15 (Interfax) - Russia's OJSC TransMashHolding will receive 50% in the capital of Kazakh plant Locomotive Kurastyru Zauyty (LKZ). A framework agreement for the stock acquisition was signed on Friday in the presence of Russian and Kazakh Prime Ministers Dmitry Medvedev and Karim Masimov.
The head of TransMashHolding, Andrei Bokarev, said that the agreement concerns the purchase of a 50% stake in the plant for the production of General Electric diesel locomotives. He added that the Russian company plans to acquire this stake from Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (Kazakhstan Railways), which earlier received the interest from GE.
Bokarev said that "the construction of the plant cost around $120 million with capacity at 150 locomotives a year." Around 70-80 units will be shipped to Kazakhstan Temir Zholy while the Russian market will receive 20-25 units a year. The remaining locomotives will be delivered to CIS and Asian countries.
Bokarev also said that TransMashHolding is interested in GE's technologies. For instance, the U.S. company's diesel engines are low-maintenance and able to operate under difficult climates, up to minus 60 degrees Celsius.
National railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy and GE commissioned the locomotive plant in July 2009. The plant's design capacity comes to 150 diesel locomotives a year, some of which are for export.
