Daimler looks on Kamaz blocking stake

The Daimler German concern has notified the Troika Dialog investment company that owns a 44.4-percent stake in the auto giant Kamaz of its intention to purchase 15 percent, plus to the 10 percent it owns.

Daimler’s stake could therefore become blocking, says Vesti citing two sources close to the Kamaz owners.

Daimler intends to buy a stake slightly bigger than the one owned by Rostekhnologii, 15 percent, specified a source. This should allow increase the share from the present-day 10 percent to blocking. The parties are negotiating a price of the deal. It is so far not known how much the German concern has proposed to pay. The Daimler representative Uta Leitner confirmed the company was negotiating with Troika and Kamaz expanding cooperation, including increasing the share.

The sum of the deal with Rostekhnologii could be $300-320 million, Interfax said in September. In the long term, buying one more stake in Kamaz could make sense, notes Vladimir Bespalov, an analyst at VTB Capital. Kamaz holds over one half of the truck market in Russia and will not give up its position when the country recovers from crisis. The price of the deal, Bespalov considers, will most likely be in between what Troika Dialog asked for in September and the price based on the current quotations.

Troika Dialog and Rostekhnologii refused to comment. Daimler increasing the stake could hardly be a blow to the state corporation, says a top manager at a larger auto holding. Rostekhnologii will find it hard to obtain budget money to buy Kamaz. Besides, the deal with Daimler originally included selling 42 percent in the auto giant but the crisis interfered. Daimler is now in a difficult financial situation, although in the 3rd quarter the concern rose to profits: EBIT was 470 million euros, while net profit was 56 million euros.

The deal is not 100-percent guaranteed though, says the edition. The Federal Antimonopoly Service chief Alexei Ulianov said Daimler had so far field no application for increasing its stake in Kamaz. The auto plant’s general director Sergei Kogogin on Saturday told Interfax: “Troika Dialog is conducting negotiations. In the pre-crisis time there would be no doubts but now, when there is no money, everything is different.”