Avtovaz, Russia’s largest car maker, has secured a RUB7bn (US$228.6m) bridge loan from state-controlled Sberbank, a company spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
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Earlier on Friday, Prime-Tass said AvtoVAZ may re-hire 6,000 former plant employees in 2012, citing board memeber and labour union chairman Nikolai Karagin.
In the wake of the financial slowdown, AvtoVAZ re-assigned those 6,000 workers to jobs at subsidiary companies.
The plant will need about 6,000 new employees after its modernisation is completed, Karagin said. AvtoVAZ plans to increase its production in 2010–2011 and will have enough employees during this period, but will require new workers from 2012 to further increase production, he added.
The struggling carmaker plans to cut its personnel to 71,265 people at the beginning of 2010 from 90,141 currently, Dmitry Mikhalenko, the company’s vice president for personnel and social policy, told Russian media.
Since 1 December, over 1,500 employees have requested employment at two newly established AvtoVAZ subsidiaries, AvtoVAZ Perspektiva and Reforming Tsentr. About 11,000 more employees are expected to request work at these subsidiaries during December.
Meanwhile, Russian law enforcement agencies have started five investigations against top executives of some of the automaker’s dealers over illegal sale of AvtoVAZ vehicles, state-owned industrial conglomerate Rostekhnologii, which holds 25% in AvtoVAZ, told Prime-Tass.
The dealers are accused of causing damage worth RUB200m, Rostekhnologii said.
