Russian oil company Tatneft has signed an agreement with Uzkimyosanoat and Uzkimyoimpex recently to buy 100% shares of tyre producer Birinchi Rezinotexnika Zavodi (BRZ). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
It was reported earlier that an agreement on the deal was reached in early December during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s visit to Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek company said that “Tatneft assumed all existing credit obligations and debts, and subsequently an agreement was reached on the purchase of new types of industrial rubber products for US$80 million.”
Prior to the sale, Uzkimyosanoat owned 91.8% of BRZ and Uzkimyoimpex held 8.2%. Last October, Deloitte valued the plant, with all credit obligations and debt in the amount of about US$75 million.
It was reported that Tatneft and Uzkimyosanoat planned to form a joint venture based on BRZ under an agreement signed in November 2019. BRZ was expected to be integrated into Tatneft’s tyre business.
BRZ was founded in 2014 in Uzbekistan’s Angren free industrial zone. The plant started production in July 2018 with annual capacity to manufacture 3 million automobile tyres, 200,000 farm machinery tyres and 100,000 linear metres of conveyor belts. The tyres are marketed under the BARS brands.