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UK: Russia's GAZ Under Mysterious Takeover Threat? - just-auto.com

3 November 2000

UK: Russia's GAZ Under Mysterious Takeover Threat? - just-auto.com

    LONDON, Nov. 3 http://www.just-auto.com -- OAO Gorkovsky
Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ), the second-biggest automaker in Russia, faces
suspicious threats of a hostile takeover that bodes ill for the car industry
there.
    In an exclusive report at
http://www.just-auto.com/features_detail.asp?art=318 , Ryan Tutak reveals that
the bidder is believed to be OAO Sibirsky Alyuminiy (SA or "Sibal"), a pivotal
player in aluminium production, the economic sector in Russia most known for
corruption and crime.
    A source at ZAO Nizhegorod Motors told just-auto.com, "The aluminium
industry has been connected with names in the criminal world, so Fiat and GAZ
worry criminals could creep into their venture, a world vacant of criminality
until now."
    "The fundamental problem is an imbalance in Russia's economy," the source
said.  "Big enterprises like Sibirsky Alyuminiy have become excessively rich,
yet they make no value-added goods...meanwhile, mass-producers of
sophisticated items like cars remain poor, so they are easy prey for wealthy
vultures."

    For the full story, click here:
http://www.just-auto.com/features_detail.asp?art=318

    just-auto.com is the premier online portal for automotive industry
professionals worldwide.  Targeted specifically at industry and business
professionals the site provides a single point of reference for independent
automotive industry information.