MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - SIBUR-Russian Tyres left the SIBUR holding at the end of 2011 and now has new controlling shareholders. One of them is Vadim Gurinov, who has headed the company for the last seven years. He relinquished day-to-day management at the start of this year and chaired the board of directors. In his first interview in his new capacity, Gurinov told Interfax about the prospects for the holding's development and about his new business projects that are unrelated to tyres.

- For a number of years you headed SIBUR-Russian Tyres, whose shareholder did not conceal its desire to dispose of the asset. But the company also acquired new assets, looked for ways to combine with other players and was ultimately bought by its management. Has the formation of the new tyre holding been wrapped up now? What is its final structure?

- I can say 99% of the formalities are complete. All the necessary approvals have been obtained, and I think we can already draw a line. The tyre holding was renamed JSC Cordiant on April 3.

The company has disposed of nearly all non-core assets - we've sold Volzhsky Azot, VAKZ, Sibur-Volzhsky and IFO. We also plan to sell Uralshina, which hasn't produced actual tyres for a long while.

The holding is left with core assets, namely four tyre factories: Yaroslavl Tyre Factory, Omskshina , Voltyre-Prom and Cordiant-Vostok (formerly Matador-Omskshina) - we consolidated 100% of the shares in that enterprise and re-named it in October 2011. The holding also has an R&D center, Intyre, and a specialized outfit, Technotyre.

- The Federal Antimonopoly Service in March granted a request by the Cyprus-based Cordiant Assets Limited to buy 100% of CJSC Cordiant. Are you and the other Cordiant managers the beneficiaries of Cordiant Assets? Can you specify what stake you own in the company and who your partners are?

- The parties to the deal are a group of investors, including Cordiant's management.

- Who are the investors?

- The shareholders include the current general director of Cordiant, Dmitry Sokov, and former top managers. The company will also be launching an options program, aimed at a broad circle of managers, and a fairly large block of shares will be set aside for it.

- When will the options program be launched and how long will it last?

- I think this summer, once the board has approved it. The program will last three-to-five years.

- Are you the company's biggest shareholder?

- As of today, no. But I'm thinking of buying an additional stake and there's a chance I'll become the controlling shareholder.

- Can you say what the deal cost? How was it funded?

- The buyout was funded one-third by investors and two-thirds with a Gazprombank loan. The whole company was valued at more than $500 million for the purpose of the deal.

- The sale of SIBUR's tyre assets was a fairly long saga. Are you now able to clarify why partnership with Nizhnekamskshina never came off? Why were the schemes for partnership with Pirelli and Russian Technologies reviewed?

- The deal with Nizhnekamskshina was a cash-free deal, and in that configuration SIBUR kept its stake in the tyre business. But the bigger priority for the petrochemicals holding was always to pull out of the tyre business and receive cash.

Agreements were reached with Tatneft , which is a Nizhnekamskshina shareholder, and that company was practically ready for a combination. But a more acceptable configuration for the deal later emerged for SIBUR, which was to sell the Amtel assets off individually and the current assets of Cordiant for cash.

- Is there any likelihood that Cordiant and Nizhnekamskshina will amalgamate?

- The purchase of Cordiant by investors and management is in no way at odds with the possibility of merging or combining with Tatneft's tyre assets.

There is still industrial feasibility and economic justification for combining the Cordiant and Nizhnekamskshina tyre assets, nothing has changed. Tatneft has said it is interested in a combination, and it has not yet changed its mind on that. The parties are convinced of the feasibility and necessity of merging the assets. The configuration in which his deal takes place now is another matter. It certainly won't be the configuration that was discussed in the previous stage of talks with SIBUR. Now, the new shareholders have to reach agreement with Tatneft on the new principles for a combination. But there is no doubt about the idea itself or the need for this.

- Are you already holding talks with Tatneft on this?

- We've reconfigured our proposal a little due to the change in he company's shareholders and we have notified Tatneft's management of our position. The ball's now in their court.

- What is the configuration that is under consideration now?

- Previously, Tatneft would have retained 51% and SIBUR - 49% of the combined company. Now we want parity - not 50/50, but with a third party, who would hold a small stake and act as a kind of referee. A bank, an investment fund or the state might play that role.

- When might this deal be done?

- Our experience of negotiating tells us that this is a fairly unpredictable process but we for our part are prepared to start the necessary action tomorrow.

- The combined company ought to be a very serious major player