Sollers allowing for partnership with Chery, but not on basis of UAZ - shareholder

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Sollers still continues to see prospects for partnership with Chinese automaker Chery, but this is impossible on the basis of UAZ due to sanctions risks, group shareholder Zoya Kaika told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"The Chery story has not run out of steam, but it is now impossible around UAZ," she said, confirming that sanctions risks are a constraint.

"Initially, negotiations with Chery took the form of a JV around UAZ. For us it was, I will be frank, one of the workarounds in the strategic development of UAZ in terms of its need for a new platform. At the moment it is not possible in that format, unfortunately. But that does not mean that it is not feasible in other formats," Kaika said.

UAZ was put on EU sanctions lists at the beginning of June.

Businessman Vadim Shvetsov reportedly later in June sold his controlling stake in Sollers Avto (76.7%) to Alter Invest, which is co-owned by the group's top managers: CEO of UAZ and Sollers Ford Adil Shirinov (39%), Sollers Avto chief Nikolai Sobolev (35.5%), his deputy Zoya Kaika (20%) and Deputy Director for Legal Affairs Victor Khvesenia (5%).