Putin approves transfer of Caterpillar and Schaeffler assets in Russia to local investors
MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order on the transfer of the Russian assets of U.S. company Caterpillar - a special equipment plant in the Leningrad Region, Caterpillar Tosno LLC and its Moscow leasing subsidiary Caterpillar Financial LLC - to a Russian investor.
A similar order was signed with respect to the assets of German automobile components manufacturer Schaeffler.
According to one of the orders, the buyer of the Caterpillar assets may be PSK-New Solutions LLC. This company, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, was registered in Moscow in August 2022. Its co-owners through Romuald LLC are Kirill Polishkin with 99% and Jan Veitsman with 1%.
According to open sources, Polishkin and Veitsman are former top managers of Sberbank . Polishkin worked as deputy director of the leading clients department at Sberbank CIB, while Veitsman headed the bank's client relations department for the metals and mining industry.
Caterpillar said in early March that it was suspending operations at its plant in Tosno, Leningrad Region, due to sanctions and logistical disruptions following the start of the military operation in Ukraine.
The Caterpillar plant in Tosno had been operating since 2000, producing CAT-brand off-road mining dump trucks and hydraulic excavators, as well as components for machinery and equipment, which the company exported to its European plants. Caterpillar Tosno LLC is the legal successor of Nevamash JV, registered in 1994, when the American company began producing components for special-purpose machinery together with the Kirov Plant.
The presidential order on the Schaeffler assets allowed the company PromAvtoKonsalt to acquire the Schaeffler Rus LLC plant in Ulyanovsk.
The Schaeffler Ulyanovsk plant has been producing ball bearings for roadway and railway transport since 2014, as well as other automotive components. Investments in the plant totaled 2 billion rubles.
According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, Schaeffler Rus LLC's revenue fell 33% in 2022 to 734 million rubles, and net losses were 300 million rubles against profit of 76 million rubles in 2021.
PromAvtoKonsalt LLC was registered in Moscow in September 2022. Alexander Gorlov replaced Roman Vovk as its head at the end of October this year.
Schaeffler itself said in its 2022 annual report that it intended to sell assets to PromAvtoKonsalt.