Daimler Truck sells its 15% stake in Kamaz - paper

MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - Mercedes-Benz Group's Daimler Truck, which halted operations in Russia in 2022 but was still a "dormant shareholder" of Kamaz , sold its 15% stake in the leading Russian truck maker in 2024, Kamaz CEO Sergei Kogogin said in an interview with Vedomosti published on Thursday.

"They completed the formal process of ending participation in Kamaz's equity this year, as far as we know. Their further plans regarding our company are not known. For us it is far more important that the termination of relations with European partners, which has certainly changed our product, has not affected our ability to manufacture commercial vehicles and develop our model line," Kogogin said.

He did not disclose the buyer or price of the German automaker's stake in Kamaz. A source close to the company said the deal had secured all approvals, the paper reported.

Daimler became a shareholder of Kamaz in 2008, when it bought a 10% stake for $250 million from Ruben Vardanyan's investment bank Troika Dialog, which itself was sold to Sberbank in 2012. In 2010, Daimler and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development bought another 5% stake in Kamaz, with 1% going to the German company and 4% to the EBRD. Daimler later bought out the bank's shares in Kamaz.

State corporation Rostec remains Kamaz's largest shareholder with 47.1%. Avtoinvest, which is 20% owned by Vardanyan (through a trust manager), 30% by Kogogin and 50% by businessman Nikolai Timokhin, holds a 23.5% stake in Kamaz.