26 March 2004 03:25
EADS Wants Irkut Stake, but Skips IPO
European aerospace giant EADS said Thursday that it is interested in buying a stake in warplane maker Irkut Corp. as
part of its expansion in Russia.
"I believe it would make a lot of sense, as we have a lot of joint projects with this company," EADS chief
Rainer Hertrich told reporters in Moscow. "This is the type of acquisition we are thinking about in
Russia."
The announcement came a day before Irkut's eagerly anticipated initial public offering. A person familiar with
the IPO, however, said later that EADS had not applied to participate in the offering by the 6 p.m. deadline.
Irkut, which is the sole supplier of Sukhoi fighter jets to India, will be the first Russian defense company to go
public if, as expected, it places more than 20 percent of its shares on Moscow exchanges Friday, a move the company
expects will generate more than $100 million.
By law, foreign firms are not allowed to own more than 25 percent of an aviation company, but everything below that
is possible, Hertrich said.
EADS, the parent company of Airbus, already works with Irkut jointly marketing the Irkutsk-based company's
Be-200 amphibious aircraft, of which the companies expect to sell 320 in 25 countries over the next 20 years.
Irkut's order book is worth more than $4 billion, mainly Su-30 sales to India and Malaysia.
Hertrich also said that by the end of April the two companies will have finalized a joint venture to service light
helicopters made by EADS subsidiary Eurocopter. More than two dozen of the craft are currently in service in former
Soviet countries. Eurocopter owners in Russia include Moscow City Hall, the Emergency Situations Ministry and several
wealthy private individuals.
Hertrich said the venture may lead to assembly of the craft in Russia, although he ruled out cooperation with
domestic helicopter manufacturers. In a separate project, Eurocopter is currently working with the Kazan and Mil
helicopter plants to jointly produce Mi-38s, an updated version of the popular but outdated Mi-8.
Hertrich said that although EADS backed out of an earlier joint venture with both plants called Euromil, in which
each owned one-third, it is still supplying parts for the project.
Hertrich said participating in similar projects in the future will be made easier once EADS registers OOO EADS, a
fully owned Russian subsidiary, later this month.
In charge of EADS in Russia will be Vadim Vlasov, a former consultant to the Defense Ministry and deputy head of
Siemens' Russian operations.
Vlasov said the new company will work as an umbrella for all of EADS' projects here, including the Airbus
engineering bureau, which is run jointly with private aviation holding Kaskol Group and the Russian Technology Center,
which works with several Russian research institutes.
"This new company emphasizes the strategic meaning that Russia has for EADS, and makes us more noticeable among
partners in the aerospace sector," Vlasov said.
EADS has invested some $150 million in Russia and generated $1 billion from its projects here over the past decade.
Its archrival, Boeing, has put $1.3 billion into projects in Russia.
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[The Moscow Times] |
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