Friday, February 18, 2011

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Reaches Joint Venture Agreement with Russia

Ford Motor (NYSE:F) has come to a joint venture agreement with Russian local auto producer Sollers to produce and sell cars in the country.

The biggest immediate loser in the deal is Italy’s Fiat, which had also been negotiating with the company for a Russian partnership.

Ford and Sollers said that their proposed joint venture, which is a memorandum of understanding between the two companies at this time, would involve the two companies’ local production plants close to St. Petersburg and in the republic of Tatarstan.

Before the credit crisis, the Russian market was among the fastest-growing in the world, and with an expected rebound, automakers have been scrambling to make local deals, as Russia changed its policies to strengthen domestic producers.

At this time Ford is the No. 11 car selling brand in Russia, and if the expected rebound in the Russian auto market comes, they have a lot of room to grow there.

Ford was trading at $15.85, down $0.12, or 0.72 percent, as of 12:14 PM EST.

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