The Interros holding, controlled by Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin, said German electronics giant Siemens had bought a 20.61% stake in Siloviye Mashiny for $93 million, which meant the European firm, which has headquarters in both Berlin and Munich, had increased its stake in the Russian energy equipment producer to a blocking stake of 25% plus 1 share.
The sale comes as part of the Russian holding's investment strategy, which saw Interros sell 22.43% of its shares in Siloviye Mashiny to Russian electricity monopoly Unified Energy System (UES) in December 2005.
With the Siemens deal, Interros said it had completed the "implementation of its investment strategy to attract a large Russian company with state capital and a strategic foreign investor to Siloviye Mashiny".
Siloviye Mashiny is Russia's largest producer and supplier of equipment for hydraulic, thermal, gas and nuclear power plants, and electricity transmission and distribution.
Now Siemens and UES hold 25% plus 1 share in Siloviye Mashiny each. Interros has a 30.4% stake in the company while minority shareholders possess a total of more than 19.5% of the company's stock.
