Manturov warns Renault it may not be able to exercise its buyback option
French automaker Renault risks being unable to exercise a six-year option to repurchase its stake in AvtoVAZ, which it sold in 2022. This was stated by First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in an interview with RBC.
“So far, what they have done and are doing now could result in this option having no chance of being exercised,” Manturov said.
Earlier in June, French radio station France Info reported that Renault was going to launch the production of drones in Ukraine, with help in the project from two defence companies. “We will definitely take this criterion into account, regardless of the fact that in 2022, when we signed the agreement on the company's sale of its stake in AvtoVAZ, an option for six years was concluded,” Manturov said.
In addition, the First Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that at one time “they interrupted all the co-operative supply chains and did not provide any assistance to AvtoVAZ in this area”.
Renault left Russia in the spring of 2022. The French automaker transferred its stake in AvtoVAZ (67.7% of the shares) to the NAMI automotive institute. Renault transferred the plant in Moscow (formerly Renault Russia JSC, now the Moscow Automobile Plant Moskvich) to the Moscow government. The remaining AvtoVAZ shares were retained by Rostec. Renault has an option to buy back its shares in AvtoVAZ within six years, but it will not be able to buy back the Moscow plant.
Manturov also commented on reports about the possible return of Japan's Toyota and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group to Russia. “I have not actually received any information from either Hyundai or Toyota. Since 2022, we have completely broken off relations with both companies,” he said.
Manturov also said that the foreign companies that left Russia will need to go through the Commission on Foreign Investment if they wish to return. The authorities will evaluate decisions to return “based on the behaviour of those companies and the competencies that they have today,” the official pointed out. “Because some companies, for example, slammed the door when they left, sometimes even ripping out the server wires and whatever they were attached to. I think that with companies like that our conversation will be very short. But the companies who provided proper software support, including those who helped with fixed assets maintenance and parts supply, even where this involved parallel imports, I think they will have both the opportunity and the right,” Manturov concluded.