Baku, Azerbaijan, July 4
By Fikret Dolukhanov – Trend:
Purchase of Kazakhstan Railways’ last 25-percent stake in Electric Locomotives Assemblage Factory (EKZ) by Alstom should be finalized in Aug.-Sep. 2018, Bernard Peille, Alstom managing director for Western and Central Asia Cluster, told Trend in an exclusive interview.
Peille noted that the process is in hands of Kazakhstan Railways and there is lots of paperwork to do.
“We started the company [EKZ] with 25 percent. Then we made the first purchase of 25 percent in 2016. And now we are in the process to complete the acquisition of last 25 percent, thus becoming the 75-percent owner of the company,” the managing director said.
Peille added that the last 25 percent of the EKZ will remain in the hands of Alstom’s Russian partner Transmashholding.
Alstom entered the Kazakhstan’s railway market in June 2010 together with its Russian partner Transmashholding (TMH), by laying the first stone of the EKZ facility in order to build locomotives for the Kazakh network. The joint company was held by Alstom (25 percent), TMH (25 percent) and Kazakh Railways (50 percent)
Alstom earlier presented its first electric freight locomotive Prima T8 AZ8A for Azerbaijan Railways. The presentation of the locomotive was held at the Electric Locomotives Assemblage Factory (EKZ), located on the territory of the Astana special economic zone.
In September 2017, it was announced that Alstom will become the core of the new Siemens-Alstom concern, which will also include German Siemens and Siemens Mobility. The German company will get just over 50 percent of the shares.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov