Mercedes-Benz is selling shares in truck maker Kamaz

Mercedes-Benz has sold its stake in Russia’s largest truck maker Kamaz, the news agency reports Reuters. The company announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian market at the beginning of 2022 and this is now complete.

The German manufacturer did not disclose the purchase price or the buyer. The company said the deal was finalized this month after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals. Mercedes-Benz AG, then Daimler AG, acquired a 15% stake in Kamaz from Daimler Truck in September 2021 with the intention of returning it to Daimler Truck after the truck maker was spun off from the carmaker in December 2021.

200 million

After becoming independent, Daimler AG was renamed Mercedes-Benz AG. Kamaz interests were eventually split between Mercedes and Daimler Truck after privatization. Mercedes remained interested, but Daimler Truck had to write down the value of the property. That was estimated at around 200 million euros in the May 2022 report. The sale marks the final withdrawal of Mercedes-Benz from the Russian market. The company announced its exit at the end of 2022, and the sale of shares in its industrial and financial subsidiaries to a local investor.

Sergei Kogogin, CEO of Kamaz, said in an interview with the daily newspaper Knowledge, that 15 percent of Daimler Truck shares had been sold. Daimler Truck suspended its business operations in Russia, including cooperation with Kamaz, at the end of February 2022. Many Western companies left the Russian market after the invasion. Many car manufacturers sold their factories for a nominal sum.