ST. PETERSBURG, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, a subsidiary of the state-owned Sukhoi holding, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed Saturday a loan agreement worth 100 million euros ($134 million) to finance production of the SuperJet-100 regional aircraft.
The document was signed within the framework of the 11th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, held June 8-10 in Russia's second-largest city.
According to the EBRD officials, the loan will be used to purchase equipment and modernize production capacity, and also to start serial production and sales of the aircraft.
The SuperJet-100 project is a family of medium-range passenger aircraft developed by the Sukhoi Design Bureau in cooperation with major American and European aviation corporations, including Boeing, Snecma, Thales, Messier Dowty, Liebherr Aerospace, and Honeywell.
Sukhoi plans to produce at least 700 RRJs, and intends to sell 35% of them to North America, 25% to Europe, 10% to Latin America, and 7% to Russia and China.
So far, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft has secured 61 orders for its regional aircraft, with Aeroflot, Russia's national air carrier, being a major client with contracts on delivery of at least 45 planes.
Sukhoi CEO Mikhail Pogosyan said Saturday that Asian air carriers would most likely be the first foreign buyers of the SurperJet-100.
"We are closely working with companies from Southeast Asia," Pogosyan said, without specifying the potential buyers.
"I think we will sign agreements [on SuperJet delivery to Southeast Asia] this year," he said, adding that contracts with European carriers could be concluded in 2008, when the company starts serial production of the regional aircraft.
Pogosyan also said Sukhoi was planning to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in the next few years, and the company's financial director, Maxim Grishanin, later confirmed the plans by saying the aircraft manufacturer could float its shares after 2010.
"The company's IPO could be conducted after 2010," Grishanin told RIA Novosti.
