Rostec plans to find a new director for one of its subsidiary companies, Russian Helicopters, with a top official from state arms exporter Rosoboronexport likely to take over, a news report said Monday.
Rostec has made securing a strategic investor for Russian Helicopters a priority and appointing a director who will work closely with the state corporation during the process is seen as a necessity, unnamed industry officials told Kommersant.
Alexander Mikheyev, the deputy head of Rosoboronexport's aviation sector, is said to have a close association with Rostec's head Sergei Chemezov and is the most likely candidate to take over.
British-Italian helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian company Finmeccanica, has been touted as a possible partner for Russian Helicopters.
The incumbent, Dmitry Petrov, is expected to step down after this year's MAKS aerospace show — which runs from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1 — when his contract expires, industry officials said.
Russian Helicopters operates factories that manufacture all major brands of Russian helicopters. The company's revenue in 2012 was 125.7 billion rubles ($3.8 billion), with a net profit of 9.4 billion rubles.
The company has orders worth more than 300 billion rubles for the production of 828 helicopters.
