“System” gets behind the wheel – Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023
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AFK Sistema is interested in buying a plant of the German automaker Volkswagen in Kaluga. Allur, a company from Kazakhstan, is also involved in the deal, which, among other things, produces cars and has Chinese shareholders associated with the release of Volkswagen in China. According to Kommersant’s sources, they plan to restart the site, retaining VW models or cars close to them. Analysts note that this can be realized by working with VW suppliers from Turkey or the concern’s partners from China.
AFK Sistema is negotiating the acquisition of the Kaluga plant from Volkswagen, a number of interlocutors told Kommersant. Kommersant’s sources report that AFK planned to involve the Kazakh automaker Allur in the project. AllurGroup includes the production sites of Agromashholding and SaryarkaAvtoProm, as well as the AllurAuto dealer and distribution network.
AFC and Allure declined to comment. Volkswagen Group Rus said they are constantly monitoring the situation and considering various scenarios. “One of the possible options is the sale of Volkswagen Group Rus assets to a third party. However, no decision has been made on this matter,” they said. The German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in October 2022, citing sources, reported that VW expects to find buyers for a factory in Russia or China.
The VW plant in Kaluga was launched in 2007 in the SKD mode, and two years later it started operating in full cycle. Its capacity is 225,000 vehicles per year; in 2021, 118,000 vehicles were produced. Volkswagen Tiguan and Polo models were produced, as well as Skoda Rapid. Since March 2022, the site has been idle. The Volkswagen Group’s third-quarter reporting indicates the concern’s intention to sell certain companies in the Russian Federation – however, it could also be about the cargo division of Traton (its assets in the Russian Federation were sold) and Porsche. VW also has an engine plant in Kaluga.
Allur has Chinese shareholders: for example, the main owner (51%) of the group in 2020 was C&J Ned Auto BV, which is owned by the Chinese China National Machinery Import & Export Co., Ltd and Anhui Jiangqi Investment Co., Ltd. The latter company owns a legal entity through which the Chinese automaker JAC operates in Russia. And Jiangqi Holdings is working with VW in China. Another 27.48% in Allur belongs to its chairman of the board of directors Andrey Lavrentyev, 16.52% to Yuri Tskhai, and 5% to the state Development Bank of Kazakhstan.
Allur Group of Companies JSC did not publish financial statements for 2021.
Two sources of Kommersant say that the scheme of possible interaction between the Kazakh and Russian parties in the deal has not yet been determined, there are several options. However, according to them, we are talking about continuing the production of existing models. Volkswagen takes a softer position in its interaction with Russia: for example, unlike most European automakers, in its reporting it calls the current crisis not a “war”, but a Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
AFK Sistema, in turn, plans to create a machine-building holding through the deal, says a Kommersant source. Now there are no such assets within the holding’s perimeter, but in the 2000s, Sistema had a joint venture to assemble Volvo trucks in Zelenograd.
Another Kommersant source spoke about the possible participation in the deal not only of a company from Kazakhstan, but also about the interest of players from the Middle East and China: we are also talking about the release of VW or similar models. He had not heard about the participation of the AFC.
Automotive analyst Vladimir Bespalov notes that it will be difficult for AFK to restart the plant without an industrial partner and its competencies. He also believes that VW will not transfer the rights to the models or independently provide components to the site. According to the analyst, we can talk about working through Volkswagen partners in friendly countries – component manufacturers from Turkey and China – to minimize sanctions risks. Sergey Udalov from Avtostat also says that given the scale of the brand and the plant, the story of its restart will not go unnoticed, so he doubts the possibility of direct deliveries from VW through Kazakhstan or a Kazakh company.
Volkswagen, as Kommersant’s interlocutors told, tried to restart the plant in the Russian Federation by supplying components from Turkey. However, this did not happen. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors in European automakers, their headquarters forbade the use of such schemes, as they feared they would be interpreted as circumventing EU sanctions (they limit the import of components worth more than €300 into Russia).
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