VERTICAL INTEGRATION…..

Sibal, part of the Russky Aliuminyi cartel, has apparently completed a hostile and secret move on GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilnyi Zavod), a carmaker in Nizhny Novgorod known for its Volga 3110 automobile. Sibal admits to a stake in GAZ of at least a blocking minority of 25 percent plus a share, but its holdings may be larger. The Sibal CEO, Viktor Belyaev, is now chairman of the board of GAZ, and Belyaev’s predecessor at Sibal, Nikolai Pugin, is now chairman of the second largest GAZ shareholder, Avtobank. The loser in the deal may be the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which made a large loan to GAZ on which the automaker defaulted in 1998. The EBRD had hoped to swap its bad debt back to the company in exchange for equity. If Sibal confirms its control of the GAZ board, however, the debt-for-equity swap is likely to collapse, leaving Sibal holding the money and the EBRD holding the bag.