Who wants to lead Russian motor-car factory?
The maker of the popular Lada cars, AvtoVAZ, has become a favorite of the stock market in recent weeks, with its stock up by more than 44 percent on both of Moscow`s main exchanges after the company`s long-serving board chairman, Vladimir Kadannikov, resigned late last month.
With Kadannikov`s successor yet to be appointed, traders say the surge may be driven by hopes for a new, dynamic leader for the country`s largest carmaker, which accounts for approximately 1 percent of the country`s gross domestic product.
Possible changes to AvtoVAZ`s ownership structure might also be helping the stock, traders say, with talk circulating that one of the country`s state-owned banks may be buying up stock in order to give the state a holding of 25 percent plus one share. The state could then appoint the successor of its choice, traders say.
The volume of AvtoVAZ shares available to the investing public, or free-float, is, at around 15 percent, quite small, making share price movements volatile and subject to relatively large changes on even low trading volumes.
"It does look like one big buyer is acting," one market participant said Thursday on condition of anonymity.
"There really are no big funds lining up for AvtoVAZ shares, I assure you," he added, referring to the large institutional investors who buy stocks for inclusion in investment and pension funds.
Moscowtimes
|
