Sibur Buys Stock-Exchange Listed Amtel-Vredestein

What may appear to some a complicated transaction is actually very simple: The unlisted holding company Sibur Holding, having sold its Sibur Russian Tyre business to the stock-exchange listed Amtel-Vredestein and then acquired the majority of all outstanding Amtel-Vredestein shares, has been able to obtain a tyre business that remains registered with the London Stock Exchange.

The business that results from this action, known as a ‘reverse takeover’ or ‘backdoor listing’, will be, if all goes ahead as planned, Russia’s largest tyre company – one with a turnover of around US$2 billion (£1 billion). Of particular interest to Sibur Holding is, of course, the Vredestein element of the business, in which there is strong brand awareness. The company also brings state of the art technology and its modern Enschede facility in the Netherlands into the new company. Unlike Amtel, which generates equal revenue, Vredestein has in recent years delivered regular profits, and this should also be the case in 2008.