TATRA FOR SALE (continued)

News about the sale of Tatra keeps pouring in. An overview: It looks like Terex will split up Tatra to get maximum profit. http://www.tatra.cz/en/obchod_en_soubory/frame.htm Isn’t this the standard covert method for the Americans to sell off an asset to get the maximum profit? The sooner Terex goes the better but braking up the elements of Tatra just for profit is the wrong way and it should be done with consideration to the future under Czech guidance and approval. If Terex is allowed to get away with this method of sale it will be the end of Tatra in Koprivnice and production will move to India under Vectra or the worse situation Tatra will become a Lego Company like all of the other Terex companies. This will mean the loss of at least 1,000 long term workers. But why ? The US Marine Crop has rejected Tatra (or should I say ATC) for the multi billon dollar truck deal. There is therefore no future in Tatra for Terex as on queue the Political arm twisting / excuses are being used, to cover each other’s arse hole, but the fact of the matter is that external pressure of asking reaching question always make bullshitters squirm. Why did Tatra not take up the opportunity to be in the tender for 12,000 trucks to the UK Army especially when the UK Army has 3,000 Pinzgauers (designed by Erich Ledwinka). M.A.N won the £2bn contract in Oct. 2004. Why did they sell off Tanax the axles division to Vectra Group? Why they stopped the sale of Right Hand Drive trucks in 2001? Why they did not open up Western markets like the UK, when the truck are EEC/ EC 9001 certified with Euro3 Engines, this money was invested by the Czech government. Why did they not invest in the Euro4 certificate for the engines when Tatra is still the only engine manufacture to have a Euro3 engine by mechanical means. Still, there seems to be potential buyers. Kamaz? Penta? Ostrava, North Moravia, April 10 (CTK) – Financial holding company Penta is seriously interested in the purchase of 80 percent of lorry-maker Tatra Koprivnice, as is Russian company Kamaz, regional daily Moravskoslezsky denik writes today. The majority stake is now in the hands of US company Terex.Neither Tatra nor Terex management wanted to comment on the possible sale. Penta Investments spokeswoman Jana Studnickova confirmed Penta’s intentions to the daily. “We will submit a bid but I cannot say more about our plans with the company for now,” she said. Speculations about the sale of the majority stake arose after an amendment was passed earlier this year to the bill on arms trading which requires people on arms producers’ statutory bodies to be screened for security. Some experts had said foreigners could not ask for screening but Premier Jiri Paroubek recently denied this. Terex has appointed Czechs to the management but has kept its representatives on the supervisory board. Tatra has declined to comment on the possible sale. Union leader Pavel Baron told the daily.”We know they are planning to sell the shares. We have seen Russian-, English-, Czech- and Slovak-speaking investors visiting the company. Some of them are likely to buy the shares from Terex,” Last year, Tatra sold 1,053 vehicles, up 10 percent against 2004 and plans to further raise output this year. The Czech government recently decided that the Czech military will buy some 1,000 lorries worth about CZK 5 billion from Tatra.