RUSSIA – UPPER VOLGA NEWS REPORT

 

March 30, 2007

 

Author: Roman Vvedensky, BISNIS representative in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

 

INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED FOR USE OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.

 

The report summarizes commercial, political and business development news in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and Republic of Tatarstan in late-February - March 2007. The information is received from the Russian news agencies (INTERFAX, AK&M, NTA), TATAR-INFORM.RU, INTERTAT.RU, REGNUM.RU, regional periodicals, PR departments, and web-cites of the regional governments and local companies.

 

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The report highlights:

 

Nizhny Novgorod Region:

·        WorldBusiness Capital provides US$ 7 million loan to NBD-Bank

·        Bagem automotive company to produce van bodies for Mercedes Atego

·        AutoComponent to set joint ventures with Spanish and German automotive companies

·        Derzhava holding to invest US$ 2 million in sandwich panel plant

 

 

Republic of Tatarstan:

 

·        U.S.-Russian consortium plans US$ 20 million investment in heat pump plant

·        Knorr-Bremse considers joint venture with KAMAZ

·        Meinl European Land invests Euro 90 million in Park House mall in Kazan

 

 

NIZHNY NOVGOROD REGION 

 

 

WorldBusiness Capital provides US$ 7 million loan to NBD-Bank

 

On March 28, WorldBusiness Capital (http://www.worldbusinesscapital.com) and NBD-Bank signed a US$ 7 million credit agreement under the guarantee of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC, http://www.opic.gov). WorldBusiness Capital provides a 10-year loan to NBD-Bank to issue credits to local small and medium enterprises. Credits to local enterprises are mature for five years.

 

It is the second loan, provided by a US financial institution to NBD-Bank under the OPIC guarantee. National City Bank (https://www.nationalcity.com/personal/Default.asp) provided a loan to NBD-Bank under the OPIC guarantee in early 2006. 

 

Bagem automotive company to produce van bodies for Mercedes Atego

 

GosStandard, a Russian national standard agency, and Mercedes authorized representative in Russia, certified Bagem to produce in small series van bodies for Mercedes Atego 812, 815, and 915. The company plans to produce 40 van bodies for Mercedes Atego in 2007 and 150-200 bodies - in 2008. Price per unit varies from US$ 5,750 to US$13,400.

 

Since 2000, Bagem has been producing van bodies for Russian trucks: GAZ, KAMAZ, ZIL and Tata (Amur), and since 2006 – for Hyundai vehicles. 

 

AutoComponent to set joint ventures with Spanish and German automotive companies

 

Nizhny Novgorod enterprise AutoComponent announced plans to set joint ventures with two foreign automotive companies further to the preliminary agreements. They are Ficosa (http://www.ficosa.com/eng/welcome.php), Spain, and EDAG Engineering + Design AG (http://www.edag.de), Germany.   Ficosa will bring in its know-how and licenses to produce car mirrors, exterior and interior plastic components under the joint-venture project. The Russian-Spanish JV may start with production of driving mirrors for Renault Logan, assembled by Avtoframos company, Moscow. EDAG Engineering + Design AG will act as a design bureau for AutoComponent under the Russian-German joint project.

 

Currently, AutoComponent produces car parts for 18,000 vehicles per year. It plans to manufacture car parts for 100,000 vehicles annually in 2010. 

 

Derzhava holding to invest US$ 2 million in sandwich panel plant

 

Derzhava holding company plans to invest US$ 2 million in a sandwich panel plant at its subsidiary in the city of Pavlovo, Nizhny Novgorod region. The design production capacity of a new plant is 322,900 square feet of sandwich panels per month. The project should pay back in 3-5 years.

 

Currently, Derzhava holding company runs negotiations with potential suppliers of production equipment.

 

 

REPUBLIC OF TATARSTAN

 

 

U.S.-Russian consortium plans US$ 20 million investment in heat pump plant

 

Prime-minister of Tatarstan met with President of US-Russian Investment Industrial and Construction Consortium to discuss a heat pump plant project at Alabuga free economic zone.

 

The consortium was set by a group of Russian enterprises, Moscow Industrial Bank, and Arecont Systems Inc., AZ (http://www.arecont.com) in July 2006. The consortium plans to invest US$ 20 million in construction of a heat pump plant with a design capacity of 35,000 pumps per year. The plant would be launched in 2009.

 

Knorr-Bremse considers joint venture with KAMAZ

 

Knorr-Bremse, Germany, ran negotiations with KAMAZ truck manufacturer to set up a joint venture in Tatarstan. The joint venture would assemble and test brake systems for KAMAZ trucks.

 

Currently, Knorr-Bremse operates a plant in Nizhny Novgorod, which ships its products to KAMAZ.

 

Meinl European Land invests Euro 90 million in Park House mall in Kazan

 

Meinl European Land (http://www.meinleuropeanland.com/en/index.html) invested Euro 90 million in 753,500 square feet Park House mall, opened in Kazan this late March. The Austrian company plans to invest additionally Euro 25 million in two more sections of the mall. The payback period of the project is 8 years.

 

Meinl European Land signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Samara-based company Vremya to develop Park House mall projects in large Russian provincial cities, including Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, and Ufa. 

 

 

For more information on Upper Volga region, Russia, visit BISNIS online at http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/volga.cfm

 

BISNIS (www.bisnis.doc.gov) is part of the U.S. Commercial Service (www.export.gov).