Renault will spend 1.3 billion dollars for a 25-percent stake in Russia's largest auto firm Avtovaz, a Russian paper reported Tuesday, giving details of the financial package for the first time.
Financial details of the package, signed on December 8, have not been officially divulged.
But anonymous sources from Avtovaz and Troika Capital Partners, which represents a group of investors, said if Avtovaz's total value is put at 5.3 billion dollars (3.6 billion euros), the French carmaker's quarter share would be around 1.325 billion dollars.
The paper, Vedomosti, said the French group will pay half the sum in February, then a further 20 percent in June.
The remaining 30 percent will become payable in 2010, according to the paper -- although it indicated that this sum would also depend on the performance of Avtovaz.
Avtovaz was the pride of the Soviet car industry as the manufacturer of the Lada. In 2006, Avtovaz accounted for 32 percent of the car market in Russia.
The Russian car market is expected to reach 2.5 million units in 2007, then grow to 3.5 to 4.0 million units a year by 2015, according to Renault sources.
The deal is expected to see Avtovaz production at its factory in southern Russia more than double, from around 700,000 vehicles a year currently to around 1.5 million.
Renault headquarters
Renault headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris. Renault will spend 1.3 billion dollars for a 25-percent stake in Russia's largest auto firm Avtovaz, a Russian paper reported Tuesday, giving details of the financial package for the first time.
