NSANY Nissan Motor Company Ltd (PK)

By James Marson, Paul Sonne and Jason Chow 

MOSCOW--The owners of Russia's largest auto maker, OAO AvtoVAZ, are preparing to fire the company's Swedish chief executive, a major shareholder said Friday, weeks after the company announced it needed a bailout amid steep losses.

Sergei Chemezov, the chief executive of Rostec, a state-owned defense-and-industrial conglomerate that owns a 25% stake in AvtoVAZ, said in an interview that he had agreed with the controlling shareholder, an alliance between France's Renault SA and Japan's Nissan Motor Co., to remove AvtoVAZ CEO Bo Andersson at a board meeting later this month.

"Now, we need to change the person," said Mr. Chemezov, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin since the 1980s. "That's all."

Asked whether Renault-Nissan had agreed, he said: "Yes. The decision will be taken at the board of directors meeting."

Mr. Chemezov said the board meeting would take place after public holidays end in Russia, on March 9 or March 10.

Another person familiar with the matter said Mr. Andersson was expected to be removed within the coming days.

A Renault spokesman declined to comment. An AvtoVAZ spokesman also declined to comment. Mr. Andersson couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com and Paul Sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 04, 2016 13:03 ET (18:03 GMT)

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