The US Army refused to deal because of the connection with the Russian aluminum magnate

The company associated with Viktor Vekselberg received a contract for the manufacture of bombs for the US Air Force in the amount of $ 419,6 million. However, having learned about the organization’s “foreign owner”, the US military decided to refuse the deal.

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The US Air Force refuses a contract for the manufacture of anti-bunker bombs worth hundreds of millions of dollars, writes RBC. The military came to such a decision after complaints by US lawmakers that the foreign company with which the deal was concluded has ties with Russian aluminum magnate Viktor Vekselberg (a businessman is under US sanctions), according to a branch of Bloomberg agency - Bloomberg Government - with a link to the editorial letter of the USAF.

The message, as the publication specifies, is dated August 30. In it, the US military, according to the Bloomberg Government, “appears to agree with lawmakers who argued that the contract with Chicago-based A. Finkl & Sons Co. (manufactures, processes and supplies steel for forging dies, molds and open-die forging to customers in the US and worldwide) is unacceptable due to foreign ownership. " Parent company A. Finkl & Sons Co. - Swiss Schmolz + Bickenbach, - according to the data, as the newspaper explains, it is associated with Vekselberg.

"For this reason, 30 August 2018, the Air Force sent a notice of termination of [joint] activities Finkl", - said in a letter. Whether the US Air Force is now about to renegotiate or re-announce a tender is not yet known, indicates Bloomberg Government.

The fact that according to the results of the previous competition was won by Finkl, the US Air Force announced 27 June. At the same time, the agency announced the conclusion of a contract worth $ 476,9 million with Superior Forge and Steel Corp. (Lima, Ohio). For the military, according to the deal, she had to produce 300 bombs in the first year, and then even before 3,5 thousands of bombs over the next four years. A similar but smaller contract, worth $ 419,6 million, then received Finkl.

Its parent company, the Swiss steel maker Schmolz + Bickenbach AG, is partly owned by Vekselberg, notes Bloomberg Government: as of 31 July, he owns 11,34% of the company through Liwet Holding AG and another 1,25% through Renova Innovation Technologies Ltd.

In May, a press release from Schmolz + Bickenbach AG, according to the publication, indicated that the company's share of Liwet and Renova was 26,9%. Vekselberg, as he wrote with reference to the Renova representative at that time Reuters, reduced his share in Swiss assets due to US sanctions. Securities Liwet Holding, through which the company Vekselberg owned shares of high-tech European concerns, the entrepreneur agreed to exchange for the assets of their partners - Yevgeny Olkhovik and Vladimir Kremer.

The share of Vekselberg in the steelworker Schmolz + Bichenbach, as specified in Renova, at that time has decreased from 42 to 12,6%.