Uzbekistan has renewed attempts to sell a 25%stake in the TAPO Chkalov aircraft production plant, which manufactures the Ilyushin Il-76 freighter and Il-114 regional turboprop.
A previous attempt last year to find investors to take a 14% stakein the troubled plant failed, but the capital has since undergone a major re-evaluation and is now being put at $246 million. The Uzbek Government owns 82.7% of the company, with another 10.6% held by employees and the remainder held by the state national bank.
Sources in Tashkent are tipping Russian, Kazakhstani and local Uzbek banks among likely investors, along with US CityBank and Switzerland's Habas group, which already has an industrial joint venture with TAPO.
TAPO general director Vadim Kurcherov says that proceeds from the sale will be re-invested in the company. Fresh funds are badly needed to finance production of the Il-114 and stretched Il-76MF, powered by Perm PS-90 engines. A recently signed accord between Uzbekistan and Russia, TAPO's main market for aircraft sales, had promised joint state funding of 102 million roubles ($16 million) to see through Il-76MF flight testing. That may be in question, however, given Russia's financial crisis.
Export revenues are crucial to TAPO's survival, but, last year ,it managed the sale of only one Il-76 to Russia, raising $52 million against a target of around $375 million.
Source: Flight International
