Russian cement producer Eurocement plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, or EGM, on February 6, 2006 to elect new members to the company’s board of directors, a spokesman for the company said Monday. Eurocement’s board of directors approved convening the EGM on December 4 at the request of minority shareholder, direct investment fund Russia Partners, the spokesman said.
Russia Partners, which holds 40 per cent in Eurocement, demanded on November 29 the company’s board of directors to convene an EGM as it seeks to include managers of Russian Alfa Group’s A1 investment unit in the board of directors of Eurocement.
Russia Partners and A1 plan to take part in decision making regarding Eurocement’s strategic and daily development. This would include such issues as the sharp decline in the company’s profits in 2004 and 2005 compared with 2003 and the conflict with Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service, which has accused Eurocement of violating the antimonopoly law, A1 said earlier.
Russia Partners and Alfa Group will try "to reach a consensus" with Eurocement’s majority shareholder Filaret Galchev, Vladimir Andriyenko, managing director of Russia Partners said earlier. Russia Partners and Alfa Group will invest their own funds in Eurocement, he added then.
A1 and Russia Partners concluded an agreement on strategic partnership in the construction and cement industries in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in early November. Under the agreement A1 will be a strategic and financial partner of Russia Partners in Eurocement and a consultant in the management of this asset.
At the present time Eurocement’s board of directors has three members who represent Russia Partners, Vladimir Andriyenko, Sergei Mikulenko and Anna Aleinik, while four members, Mikhail Skorokhod, Vladimir Stupak, Misak Kacheyants, and Alexander Kolesnichenko, represent Eurocement Group.
Russia Partners was created in 1994 by the Russian government and the US government through its Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which insures the investment risks of U.S. companies in more than 140 countries. Russia Partners is headquartered in New York. A1 is a key investment unit of Alfa Group and is in charge of long-term investment projects.
Eurocement is one of Russia’s largest cement producers. It holds controlling or large stakes in Belarus’ Maltsovskiy portlandcement, Russia’s Ryazan Region-based Mikhailovcement, Lipetsk Region-based Lipetskcement and Arkhangelsk Region-based Savinskiy Cement Works. Eurocement also holds stakes in other cement producers in Russia and Ukraine. Eurocement does not disclose its financial results.
