Mr. Evgeny Yakovlev was appointed as acting general director of OMZ. Deputy general director for strategic planning and corporate affairs of Power Machines Group Mr. Pavel Skitovitch was appointed as managing director.

The decree on new appointments was signed by Kakha Bendookidze, chief executive officer. At the beginning of April OMZ Board of Directors intends to officially confirm appointment of Mr. Yakovlev as chief executive officer of the company.

This appointment is in line with Power Machines and OMZ merger plan announced in December 2003. It was also announced that Mr. Yevgeny Yakovlev, chief executive officer of Power Machines Group, would be appointed as chief executive officer of the merged company and its founder Kakha Bendookidze would assume the position of the Chairman of the Board.

The merged company will focus on engineering, manufacturing and marketing of power generation equipment including equipment for nuclear power plants providing complex construction and modernization solutions for power generation facilities. Power generation equipment will make up 70% of the company’s sales. OMZ and Power Machines deal will be a merger of equals whereby the shareholders of Power Machines will receive 50% of OMZ shares and 100% of the shares of Power Machines will be transferred to OMZ.