Russia's Sukhoi aircraft company to float its shares on foreign markets five years from now

The Sukhoi warplane concern, i.e. state-run integral enterprise, intends to float its shares on foreign markets five years from now, the corporation's general director Mikhail Pogosyan noted here today.

We'll be able to float corporate shares on foreign markets during the second stage of the Sukhoi holding company's assertion, Pogosyan added.

Sukhoi will adopt a joint-stock company as early as during the third quarter of 2003; and the Sukhoi holding will emerge by that time. The state shall own 100 percent of all corporate stock.

The Komsomolsk-on-Amur (Russian Far East) and the Novosibirsk (Siberia) aircraft production associations have already been converted into joint-stock companies during the establishment of the Sukhoi holding company. 74.5 percent of their shares have been transferred to the account of the company.

The statutory capital of Sukhoi enterprises also includes 50 percent of all shares (plus one share) of the Sukhoi design bureau, 38 percent of the Taganrog-based Beriyev aircraft enterprise's shares, as well as 14.7 percent of the Irkut corporation's stock.

The establishment of a holding company on the basis of the Sukhoi corporation meets global trends, i.e. aircraft-corporation mergers and the establishment of "multi-role" corporations turning out combat hardware and civilian airliners alike, Pogosyan stressed.

The RosOboronExport state-run enterprise signed export contracts for the delivery of Sukhoi aircraft worth $12 billion during the Sukhoi company's seven-year existence.

Over 160 aircraft were sold elsewhere over this period.

More than 60 Sukhoi warplanes were sold abroad last year alone, accounting for over $1.6 billion, or more than 33 percent of all Russian combat-hardware exports.

RosOboronExport has already concluded and initialled Sukhoi-export contracts worth over $2 billion this year.

Export contracts for the delivery of some 150 Sukhoi warplanes to other countries of the world worth $8 billion are to be signed during the next five years.

About 250 Sukhoi warplanes will be assembled elsewhere within the next few years to a Sukhoi-corporation license; corporate experts will also take a direct part in this process.

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