The shareholders of the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC), the Russian-Italian manufacturer of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, have decided how to issue additional shares worth EUR 1 billion for sale to the VEB bank without diluting the shares of the Alenia company (Italy). The RIA Novosti news agency reported this, citing sources in the industry, according to aex.ru.
A top manager from the competing Brazilian group Embraer has been asked to take over worldwide sales of the Russian aircraft. He is the aircraft manufacturer’s former vice president Alex Glock.
Earlier, the Russian Industry Ministry and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), which is the parent company of SCAC’s major shareholder Sukhoi, were nearing completion of negotiations with Alenia on issue of additional shares in SCAC worth EUR 1 billion for sale to its controlling shareholder.
"The Italians still do not have EUR 250 million for preservation of the stake, but the parties have agreed to preserve it by fixing Alenia’s debt in the stake," said one of the participants in the negotiations on the Russian side. Thus, the Italians will receive an extended right to acquire the additional share issue if this money becomes available in the future, he said.
Glock is currently a senior vice president at the commercial unit Superjet International (SJI), which is 51% owned by Alenia and 49% owned by Sukhoi. According to one source, Glock’s candidacy has not yet been approved.
The Russian authorities decided back in 2011 to support the SCAC, which is in dire financial straits because of a large debt. The support was expected to include redemption of USD 600 million out of the company’s debt to VEB. For its agreement, the Italian side proposed transferring the rights to all sales of the aircraft to SJI. The proposal by the Italians was not accepted. The parties also decided not to create a single company from SJI and SCAC (75% owned by Sukhoi and the remainder by Alenia), which manage the program for sale and production of the aircraft.
