SDS to sell Altaivagon to Taltek Group - paper
KEMEROVO. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Siberian Business Union Holding Company (SDS) is selling its 75% stake in JSC Altaimash, owner of JSC Altaivagon, Russia's third largest freight car manufacturer, to Taltek Group, national daily Kommersant reported.
The other 25% will be retained by JSC Port Infrastructure Development Center, which also owns 70% of the Lavna Port and about 25% of Sukhodol Port.
One of the paper's sources said the deal has already been closed, while another said it has been "generally agreed, but a number of conditions are being discussed."
They estimated the value of the stake being sold at 15 billion-23 billion rubles, noting that SDS originally bought the plant for $1 million, the paper said.
The paper said that Altaivagon has traditionally delivered 250 out of 1,100 railcar kits per month under a regional agreement to Taltek's Barnaul Railcar Repair Plant (BVRZ), which specializes in manufacturing grain and mineral hoppers. Altaivagon's strength is building new generation cars and boxcars, and if synergies are realized the merged company will have a full range, including gondola cars, oil, gasoline and LPG tank cars, hoppers, boxcars and flatcars, Kommersant said.
SDS and Taltek have not announced a deal and did not respond to the paper's questions.
Rollingstock Agency managing partner Alexander Polikarpov said Altaivagon, including its Kemerovokhimmash branch, produced about 3,600 boxcars, 3,200 gondola cars and 1,700 flatcars in the first 11 months of 2023. Kemerovokhimmash began mass production of oil and gasoline tank cars under a contract with Railgo in 2023. Altaivagon also produces a small number of hoppers, but only in recent years, Polikarpov said, adding that, according to preliminary figures, all of the company's facilities produced about 10,000 railcars in 2023.
Altaivagon and BVRZ have contracts to the end of the year and their potential combined production is estimated at 16,000 railcars per year, the paper said. Altaivagon has not disclosed its results for 2023.
Kommersant said BVRZ CEO Alexei Kungurtsev has already been named head of Altaivagon, although this has not yet been confirmed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE).
Altaivagon produces tank cars, gondola cars, boxcars and flatcars. The company's flagship plant is located in Novoaltaisk, Altai Territory. Its branch in Rubtsovsk makes steel castings, and its branch in Kemerovo manufactures more than 30 types of products for the petrochemical, gas and coal industries, as well as tank cars and tank containers for shipping oil, gas and other products.
Altaivagon produces about 10,000 freight cars annually and has an 18.2% share of the Russian market, the company's website said.
Taltek Group includes three open-pit coal mines in the Kuznetsk Basin with combined capacity to produce 8.3 million tonnes of coal; BVRZ with capacity to build 3,500 railcars per year; freight rail operator Taltek Trans with a fleet of 4,500 freight cars; and the Kandalaksha port, which specializes primarily in handling coal shipments.