OREANDA-NEWS. PALFINGER AG and OJSC KAMAZ, both publicly listed companies, have agreed to establish two joint venture companies in Russia. KAMAZ is Russia's largest truck producer ranking 11th among the world`s top heavy truck manufacturers. KAMAZ trucks are sold in the domestic market, and some of them are also exported to Asia and Latin America. KAMAZ trucks have won the Dakar Rally twelve times since 1996.

The PALFINGER Group will hold 49 per cent and the KAMAZ Group 51 per cent in the joint venture focussing on mounting, which will specialize in truck bodies. The joint venture company will equip trucks with loading and handling systems. In addition to the existing dealer network of KAMAZ, the establishment of a separate network of dealers and service centres is planned. The company will have its registered office in Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan, not far from the headquarters of the KAMAZ Group. The objective is to deliver more than 3,000 truck bodies per year by 2019.

PALFINGER's stake in the cylinder production joint venture will be 51 per cent. PALFINGER will acquire this interest in the existing cylinder production of KAMAZ in Neftekamsk in the Bashkortostan region and will invest in modernization of the plants. A targeted 80,000 cylinders for cranes, trucks and building machinery are to be built there by the year 2019.

Subject to the necessary approvals, the closing of both transactions and hence the foundation of the new joint venture companies is planned for the end of November 2014.

Sergei Kogogin, General Director of OJSC KAMAZ, is of the opinion that “KAMAZ still remains a reliable player in the market for all its business partners, including international partners. And it is especially important that PALFINGER, one of the world's leading manufacturers of lifting equipment, should believe in long-term relations with KAMAZ.”

For Herbert Ortner, CEO of the PALFINGER Group, the foundation of the two joint venture companies is “a very important step in securing and expanding our business in CIS. This region has already become a highly important market for PALFINGER and, in line with our strategy, we intend to expand local production and intensify on-site value creation. In KAMAZ we have found a flexible and performance-oriented partner for our undertaking.”