22 Feb 2023 17:57

Ukraine's TAS gets 40% stake in Austrian railcar joint venture

MOSCOW. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Cyprus-registered T.A.S. Overseas Investments Limited, part of the Ukrainian TAS group, which also includes the Dneprovagonmash plant, has received a 40.03% stake in the TransAnt GmbH joint venture set up by Austria's OBB Rail Cargo Group and Voestalpine Stahl GmbH to produce innovative and cost-effective rail freight cars.

"Another strategic investor has been brought in with extensive know-how in the rail car industry and modern available assets for the production of freight cars for the company's recently launched growth phase in February 2023," Ukrainian media reported, citing the TransAnt website.

According to the Austrian registry, Voestalpine Stahl's stake in the joint venture decreased from 80.2% to 48.1%, and that of OBB Rail Cargo from 19.8% to 11.87%.

TransAnt is currently working on a new series of cars using its own technology "with plans to produce additional wagons in larger quantities using this new technology as early as the second half of 2023," according to the information.

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has already provided T.A.S. Overseas Investments Limited with appropriate clearance based on its request and requests from TransAnt and Voestalpine Stahl.

AS Group was founded in 1998 by businessman Sergei Tigipko. Its business interests cover the financial sector - banking and insurance segments - and pharmacy, as well as industry, real estate, and venture projects.

Dneprovagonmash is a leading Ukrainian rail freight car designer and manufacturer with production capacity of 9,000 railcars annually. The plant reduced output 39.2% in 2021 to 477 freight cars and 623 cars in 2022.

Tigipko said at the end of 2022 that Dneprovagonmash was preparing to localize production in Austria.