Autostat. – The Ministry of Industry and Commerce plans to sign a Special Investment Contract (SPIC) with the Renault-Nissan-Avtovaz alliance under the conditions of the current investment regime, along with applications from Hyundai, GAZ Group and BMW, which are currently in the process of signature, as told by the minister Denis Manturov. According to the minister, the department hopes that the alliance will complete the works on its application and all SPICs will be signed under the terms of the regime, which is currently being developed. As one may remember, the minister has previously expressed readiness to sign the contract with the alliance, however, the companies had stated that such an opportunity was not provided for a group of investors.
There’s no comment from Renault-Nissan-Avtovaz alliance on the works conducted for the SPIC. According to a source of Kommersant newspaper, who’s familiar with the situation, Avtovaz will be the only investor under the terms of the contract, while Renault and Nissan will act as involved parties. The source has also mentioned the possible participation of Mitsubishi in the project. In such configuration, tax preferences will only be available for Avtovaz. On the other hand, in the event of a change in the SPIC legislation, the contract may be transformed into a group SPIC, with the approval of the signing group of investors. The SPIC should guarantee the Renault-Nissan-Avtovaz alliance access to industrial subsidies for the duration of the contract, as stated by the source. In fact, all these transactions mean compensation for utility fees for Russian manufacturers and foreign companies localised in the country.
As told by the source, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce supports the idea of signing the contract with Renault-Nissan-Avtovaz alliance before the end of the year, however, an agreement has not been reached under the terms of the contract yet. The application can be filed within two weeks.
