The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) is planning to extend a loan to the company Asia Auto Kazakhstan for the construction of a car factory in Ust-Kamenogorsk, a city in northeastern Kazakhstan.
The corresponding agreement was signed within the framework of the Moscow International Motor Show. As a reference, Asia Auto Kazakhstan is a joint venture of AvtoVAZ, a Russian automobile manufacturer, and Kazakhstan’s holding company Bipek Auto-Asia Auto controlled by the businessman Anatoly Balushkin.
Asia Auto Kazakhstan will receive 4 billion rubles ($59 million) in loan within ten years. Bipek Auto-Asia Auto has already invested $67,1 million of its internal funds in the project. When put in operation, the factory will produce cars for Kazakhstan’s market only.
AvtoVAZ has a blocking stake in the joint venture (25% + one share), while 75% of shares belong to the holding company Bipek Auto-Asia Auto.
Construction of the enterprise was launched in 2013. After the first phase is commissioned, the factory will be capable of producing 60,000 cars per year, while the total capacity of the enterprise will amount to 120,000 units per year. At the beginning of March 2018, the then AvtoVAZ President Nicolas Maure said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper that the facility is scheduled for opening by 2021.
