ArmInfo. Despite negotiations on the sale of the Armenal foil rolling plant, its parent structure, the Russian company Rusal, decided to replace the director of the Armenian subsidiary. Arthur Zakaryan was replaced as CEO of the company by Maxim Karamanov, sent from Russia.
Earlier the media circulated information that the Tashir group of companies (owner Samvel Karapetyan) is considering the possibility of acquiring the Armenal plant, which, due to Western sanctions against Rusal, has been operating at a loss for a year and a half. Information about the negotiation process was leaked to the media. However, neither the Minister of Economy of Armenia Gevorg Papoyan nor representatives of Tashir have yet commented on this issue.
In particular, in early July, summing up the results of his 100-day activity as Minister of Economy, Gevorg Papoyan said that despite high production volumes, the plant has certain problems with sales markets due to Western sanctions against Russia and specifically the Rusal company. Without disclosing any details, Papoyan noted that business negotiations are currently underway, and any comments can only get in the way. "But we are doing and will do everything possible so that tomorrow and in the future such industrial capacity and an important asset of the country as Armenal will work in our country," Papoyan emphasized.
Independent observers, meanwhile, believe that the change of the general director of the enterprise and the commercial director is not able to affect the financial condition of Armenal, since there are circumstances of force majeure - sanctions. Therefore, we can assume that the new plant management sent from Moscow will most likely be involved in its pre-sale preparation.
According to the Statistics Committee, the production of aluminum foil in Armenia in January-May 2024. significantly accelerated the decline from 9.3% to 32%, amounting to 8,271.1 thousand tons.
