Kamaz chief says ready to head new Russian Technologies automobile holding
MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - Sergei Kogogin, the general director of truck maker Kamaz , said he was ready to head the automobile holding being set up by the state Russian Technologies (Rostekhnologii) corporation.
"I can't just stand by in today's conditions. I'm prepared to consider involvement in the holding at various levels. I'm prepared, I have the energy, experience and ability," Kogogin told reporters during the InterAuto-2009 forum in Moscow.
"Kamaz currently has the sort of management that certainly requires my involvement as first person, although people know what they are doing anyway," Kogogin said, asked how he thought the Kamaz shareholders would react to him taking on extra duties connected with the new RusAuto holding.
Reports say Russian Technologies is forming a new holding to absorb the state corporation's stakes in car maker Avtovaz and Kamaz, and that Sergei Kogogin will head the new holding. The holding might also include the AvtoDiesel plant, which is controlled by the GAZ auto group. Russian Technologies registered LLC AvtoInvest Holding at the end of last year to consolidate its automotive industry assets. The shareholdings in these assets will be listed on AvtoInvest Holding's balance sheet.
Russian Technologies actually plans to set up four sub-holdings for its automobile and component assets, the corporation's Deputy General Director Igor Zavyalov said in an interview broadcast on the Vesti-24 television channel on Tuesday.
The first, focusing on car manufacturing, is to be built around Avtovaz; the second, specializing in trucks, around Kamaz; the third, which will produce automobile components, will draw on Russian Technologies' related assets; and the fourth will specialize in the production of engines based on Avtodiesel and the Tutayev Engine Plant.
Russian Technologies head Sergei Chemezov will be the board director of the unified holding.
Russian Technologies does not formally have to seek consent for the merger of Avtovaz's and Kamaz's assets from the other shareholders, including Renault and Daimler, but will discuss it with them anyway, Zavyalov said.
Russian Technologies has not yet had negotiations with Oleg Deripaska on AvtoDiesel's joining the new holding. Deripaska owns AvtoDiesel, and Russian Technologies has a stake in it.
Russian Technologies holds a 25% stake in Avtovaz, 37.8% in Kamaz, 30% in AvtoDiesel, and 31.8% in the Tutayev Engine Plant in the Yaroslavl region.
"There's no question of Avtovaz being merged with Kamaz, AvtoDiesel and the Tutayev plant," Kogogin said at the InterAuto forum. "The shares [in these companies] will simply be collected by one structure," he said.
It is unclear whether Kogogin has actually been endorsed as the candidate to lead the new holding. The Russian Technologies corporation's Zavyalov said only that Kogogin remained general director of Kamaz. "The issue [of Kogogin stepping down as Kamaz chief] has not been discussed by us," he said.