OREANDA-NEWS. April 8, 2011. In Stuttgart, Germany, KAMAZ and mefro wheels GmbH signed an outline agreement under which the German party will acquire an operating enterprise producing wheel disks from OJSC KAMAZ.

The agreement and a package of special agreements thereto were signed by Sergey Kogogin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, and Dr. Alfred Fischbacher, President and Co-owner of mefro wheels Group. In accordance with these documents, the German company, one of the world`s leading manufacturers of wheel disks for international automakers, purchases OJSC KAMAZ’s production of wheel disks – OOO "KAMAZavtotekhnika" located in the city of Zainsk in the Republic of Tatarstan.

Thus, another KAMAZ’s special production yielding little profit with its current output will operate under the wing of one of Europe`s leading manufacturers of automotive components which boasts advanced production technologies and many years of experience in manufacturing high quality products of the present.

The manufacture of wheel disks requires constant and substantial investments in renewal of equipment. At one time, fierce competition in the global market forced many leading manufacturers of trucks to give up their own production of this component. By the way, mefro wheels is the official supplier of wheel disks for Daimler, a strategic partner of OJSC KAMAZ.

Sergey Kogogin, Director General of OJSC KAMAZ, commented: "With mefro wheels as a partner, we have taken an important step to bring our production and business structure into line with international standards and to further improve the quality of our products. Thus, KAMAZ strengthens its international competitiveness.” Dr. Alfred Fischbacher, Managing Director of mefro wheels and General Manager of the newly formed mefro wheels Russia LLC, also expressed his satisfaction that contracts have now been signed: "With the acquisition of the KAMAZ plant that is largely devoted to the manufacture of truck wheels, we have decisively extended our market position in Russia. With a plant of our own in this highly attractive future market, we are now in a position to supply high quality wheel products to both KAMAZ and its joint venture partner Mercedes Benz Trucks Vostok, as well as to every other truck producer with a manufacturing presence in Russia now or in the future.”

This transaction marks the first occasion on which a European automotive components supplier purchased a Russian manufacturer outright, and, thus, extended far beyond the usual cooperation through the medium of joint ventures.

Most of employees of OOO KAMAZavtotekhnika will be taken over by the new enterprise mefro wheels Russia. Those workers not engaged in wheel production will be transferred to other plants of KAMAZ. According to the long-term supply agreement signed by the parties, mefro wheels will deliver to KAMAZ both wheel disks and ready-assembled wheels necessary for truck production.

mefro wheels was supported in this transaction by goetzpartners Corporate Finance as M&A consultants and Noerr LLP as legal advisers.

OJSC KAMAZ. OJSC KAMAZ is Russia`s largest producer of heavy trucks. It ranks 13th among the world’s producers of trucks (from 14 t GVW) and 8th among diesel engine producers. KAMAZ Group of Companies consists of about 100 enterprises, 12 of which are the main subsidiaries. More than 50 thousand workers are employed there. The company has 127 dealers and more than 100 branded service auto centers. KAMAZ trucks operate in more than 80 countries of the CIS, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

mefro wheels GmbH. The company`s headquarters is located in Rohrdorf (Bavaria). The production capacity of six manufacturing plants of the company located in Germany, France, Turkey, Argentina, and now in Russia, is more than 25 million wheel disks for passenger cars and 5 million wheel disks for trucks a year. The group delivers wheel disks under the mefro, KRONPRINZ and SUDRAD brand names to automakers around the world. Having recently taken possession of factories in Argentina and Russia, the leader of the European market is becoming a global supplier.