OREANDA-NEWS. December 20, 2010. Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation and the Group of Companies United Capital Partners announce attainment of agreement in principle concerning holding establishment for drilling equipment production

Uralmash Machine-Building Corporation CJSC, the leading Russian heavy engineering enterprise and the Group of Companies United Capital Partners (UCP), dealing with private investments and management of assets, attain the agreement in principle concerning establishment of holding company for manufacturing and service of drilling equipment for oil-and-gas industry.

Holding company will unite engineering and manufacturing capacities of MK Uralmash and UCP (as the holder of Uralmash Drilling Equipment CJSC) in the field of drilling equipment. In addition, the drilling equipment service company will be established within the holding company. Participation in holding will be based on the parity partnership.

The main task of the holding company (due to potential consolidation that the participants possess) is to satisfy in full the current and prospective requirements in drilling equipment for oil and gas industry taking into account the most serious requirements to engineering, quality, delivery terms of the equipment and its maintenance, and to provide leading positions for the Russian manufacturers in domestic market of heavy drilling rigs. In the future the holding company is planning promotion of the Russian heavy drilling rigs to foreign markets.

Karpov Yuri Anatolyevich will be appointed the holding company general director. From 2006 to 2009 Mr. Karpov has been working as the first vise-president of GK Integra and was also responsible for the production of drilling equipment in Uralmash Drilling Equipment CJSC.

"At Uralmashplant a serious work is underway regarding production of a set of drilling equipment. A good stock of orders is organized. The plant successfully performs these orders, has a serious confidence in the future, paying a special attention to modernization of the appropriate capacities within the frame of the complex program of production re-equipment as well as engineering development. At the same time in order to strengthen positions of Russian manufacturers of heavy drilling rigs both in domestic and foreign markets we are glad to have a possibility to restore and develop partnership with Uralmash Drilling Equipment CJSC", pointed out Oleg Danchenko, General Director of MK Uralmash CJSC. "The constructive position that the new owners of the company  possess regarding cooperation with Uralmashplant, who settled all our claims to Uralmash Drilling Equipment concerning misuse of Uralmash trademark, allowed us to start constructive negotiations, which resulted in current agreement on consolidation of both companies possibilities", said Oleg Danchenko.

"We plan to start serious and laborious work within the frame of a joint holding company, -pointed out Ilya Shcherbovich, President of UCP. - Uralmashplant and Uralmash Drilling Equipment tried their best to restore the positions of domestic drilling technique. The next stage for the holding company is to occupy leading positions in the Russian market. We are sure to succeed in doing our joint work."