YUKOS System Integrator to Work for Defense
YUKOS principal owner, Group MENATEP sold 51 percent in Sibintek to Rus Investment and Financial Group, Sibintek officially announced yesterday, November 17, 2005. On the same day, Rus introduced new BOD members of Sibintek with Mikhail Shelkov among them. In view that Shelkov heads Oboronimpex defense enterprise, the analysts have concluded new owners are willing to turn Sibintek into the largest IT-contractor for the military industrial complex of Russia.
Rus Group bought the 51 percent in Sibintek, representatives of the latter announced declining to specify the deal value but naming the seller – Gibraltar Group MENATEP. In addition to the core business of system integration, Sibintek has a number of non-profile assets, therefore, it is not easy to appraise the deal budget, the analysts say.
According to the new owners, the system integration business of Sibinket will have true breakthrough in the near term. “So far, the orders of the parent company – YUKOS – accounted for 60 percent of Sibintek turnover,” said Marat Zagidullov, new chairman of the company’s BOD. “We are willing to widen the share of external orders by more than one and a half. For this purpose, we intend, for instance, to buy out a small distributor of computer equipment.”
For Sibintek, the key clients will be enterprises of the military industrial complex of Russia, the analysts are sure. Mikhail Shelkov, who became a new non-executive director at Sibintek yesterday, is the general director of Oboronimpex, 75-percent owned by Rosoboronexport, and the latter is Russia’s sole arms exporter. In addition, the closeness to the military establishment allows the company to count on other state orders. The government plans to spend around $1 billion for IT services in 2005 and Sibintek may hope for between 5 percent and 10 percent of the amount.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 18, 2005
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