Rostec wants to invest $600 million in Russian civil aviation projects
Russian Helicopters Ansat
Last week, the biggest players in Russian commerce met for the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 (SPIEF 2019) to discuss the key economic issues facing Russia – and to make deals.
Moscow’s state-owned defence and tech conglomerate Rostec announced at the show that its joint-stock commercial bank subsidiary Novikombank will be investing more than 40 billion rubles ($600 million) into Rostec’s civil aviation companies, including Russian Helicopters.
Among the key projects in which Novikombank will be investing are the modern PD-14 and VK-2500 aircraft engines and several civil-helicopter projects, specifying the Ansat and Ka-226.
The deal between the bank and Russian Helicopters will cover the delivery, repair and support of several of its civil models. The parties also signed a loan agreement for more than $75 million.
Anatoly Serdyukov aviation cluster industrial director of Rostec said: “The development of civil aviation, helicopter engineering, engine building is one of the key priorities of Rostec. Products such as the PD-14 and VK-2500 engines, Ka-226 and Ansat helicopters, are not only strategically important for our country, but have high potential and interest in foreign markets.
Despite labouring under EU and US economic sanctions in place since 2014 that followed from the Ukrainian crisis, the company has seen growing interest for its helicopters from other parts of the world. It has signed a number of deals across Asia over the past couple of years and has started a promotional tour for its Mi-171A2 and Ansat helicopters across the region.
“This is confirmed by numerous concluded agreements with China, countries of Southeast Asia, Middle East and others. Naturally, successful implementation of our projects requires loans and investments. Today’s agreements will contribute to the continuous development of our aviation enterprises. ”
In January, The Chinese Emergency and Disaster Relief Association signed a contract for 20 new Ansat Helicopters at the China Air Show. Russian Helicopters is now looking to type certify the Ansat in China and to deliver the aircraft between 2019-2020.
