Owens-Illinois Inc is making its first ownership foray into Russia by purchasing a minority stake in a company owned by one of that country's largest producers of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. The Toledo firm has announced it is putting $6M into a glass container plant near Moscow, which is owned by OST Tara. O-I gets a 19% stake in the Russian company in exchange, said spokesman Kelly Yoder. The OST Tara plant produces more than 200M glass bottles/pa and has room to expand. Prior to the Russian plant opening in May 2004, the OST Group purchased bottles from O-I's operations in Finland as well as from other suppliers. The Toledo Fortune 500 firm, which has more than 100 factories in 23 countries, is one of the largest glass container producers in Eastern Europe.
