UMATEX (Rosatom) and RUSNANO signed a share purchase agreement concerning Prepreg-ACM

6 2018 Company news

UMATEX (Rosatom) and RUSNANO have signed a share purchase agreement concerning Prepreg-ACM, RUSNANO’s portfolio company. The deal will be closed in October 2018. RUSNANO has sold its 100% stake in Prepreg-ACM, JSC to UMATEX.

As part of the deal, the operations management of Prepreg-ACM has been transferred to UMATEX starting 4 June 2018. Prepreg-ACM (Prepreg-Advanced Composite Materials) is one of Russia’s major producers of fabrics and prepregs made of carbon fibre. The company is active in its geographical expansion in global markets, while diversifying its product range. In 2017, Prepreg-ACM saw export proceeds going up over 1.5 times versus 2016. Its products are available in 17 countries including Germany, Austria, India, Turkey and others.

Alexander Tyunin, UMATEX CEO:

- The aim of the deal is to consolidate the main assets producing in-process ingredients of polymer composites - carbon fibre and semi-finished products based on it, i.e. fabrics and prepregs for use in strategically important industries. The acquisition of Prepreg-ACM will help us to structurally embed our carbon fibre processed into fabrics and prepregs, in products of aircraft and ship-building, automotive industry, wind energy, construction industry, and sports gear manufacture. It will improve the pricing flexibility, speed up the imports phase-out process and expand export opportunities for composites, as more than half of the world’s total output of carbon fibre is used by end-product manufacturers as part of fabrics and prepregs.

Vladimir Kozlov, RUSNANO Managing Director:

-   The Prepreg-ACM project has succeeded in moving beyond many obstacles along its way. In 2016-2018, RUSNANO took control of the project and effected a new strategy to expand the assortment of world-class materials that it produced. It also focused on raising export proceeds (i.e. from supplying materials for automotive companies like Mansory, Lamborghini, and shipbuilding - Azimuth, Sanlorenzo) and introducing the materials into Russia’s civil aviation projects. These active steps made the asset attractive for a strategically important investor, and resulted in a reasonable return on it upon withdrawal.

 

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Prepreg-ACM, JSC is a leading Russian developer, producer and supplier of composites made of carbon fibre-based fabrics and various polymer resins. The company runs Russia’s only large-scale production of carbon fabrics and prepregs. The key domestic markets for prepregs are aviation, shipbuilding, exterior reinforcement systems for construction industry, and sports gear. The main targets for export sales are shipbuilding and automotive industry. RUSNANO Group has been the project’s strategic investor since 2009.

UMATEX incorporates Russia’s unique industrial sites for carbon fibre manufacture: Alabuga-Fibre in the Republic of Tatarstan, Argon in Saratov Region, Carbon & Composite Materials Plant (C&CMP) in Chelyabinsk, and two Trading Houses in the Czech Republic and China. The R&D Centre in Moscow is geared up with state-of-the-art equipment to advance PAN precursor and carbon fibre technology.

January 2018 saw the foundation of a special-purpose organization for the industrial cluster Composites without Borders. This is a unique action ground to advance the composites industry in Russia, with focus on setting up a complete process chain for composites production. The cluster Composites without Borders is aimed at scaling up the Russian market of composites, development of expertise, imports phase-out and exports furtherance, and private investment promotion.