MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's ZAO Interros Holding said Monday it had agreed to sell its stake in the nation's top turbine manufacturer to steel tycoon Alexei Mordashov.
Interros has agreed to sell its 30.4 percent stake in OAO Silovye Mashiny, or Power Machines, to Alexei Mordashov, according to a company statement cited by Dow Jones Newswires. Mordashov is the chief executive and controlling shareholder of steelmaker OAO Severstal, but he is using his own money for this purchase, rather than the company's.
The announcement came after German engineering giant Siemens AG formally waived its pre-emptive rights to the stake, having failed to obtain an approval from Russia's antitrust watchdog to take control of the company. Siemens' stake in Power Machines will stay at 25 percent.
An earlier bid by Siemens for control of Power Machines was turned down in 2005 on security grounds — a unit of Power Machines makes turbines that power Russia's nuclear submarines.
But some industry observers have attributed the barring of Siemens to lobbying from rival Russian industrial groups that wanted to buy the company, which they expect to be the biggest beneficiary of a surge in orders from Russia's electricity sector as it undergoes sweeping restructuring and modernization.
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has given permission to take over Power Machines to Mordashov and another Russian tycoon — OAO Rusal owner Oleg Deripaska.
Either one would need both the Interros sake and a 25 percent stake held by state-owned electricity monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems to gain immediate control. UES plans to sell its stake at an auction by the end of the year.
