Russia wants to cut AvtoVAZ debt by up to 30 pct

MOSCOW, March 11 (Reuters) - Russia's government wants lenders to waive up to 30 percent of a looming debt payment by troubled Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ to help it to its feet, a finance ministry official told Reuters on Thursday.

AvtoVAZ needs to pay back 38 billion roubles ($1.28 billion) worth of debt and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has allocated just 28 billion roubles from the state budget to the loss-making giant.

The bank creditors' pool including state-controlled lenders Sberbank and VTB may lose up to 11.4 billion roubles ($383.6 million) should the government proposal be approved.

'The banks have provided loans to the companies that became a problem when the crisis struck, so the banks understood the potential risks... So far a discount of around 25-30 percent has been discussed,' Alexander Novak, a deputy finance minister told Reuters.

AvtoVAZ, maker of the Lada, plans to triple production alongside partners Renault and Nissan by 2020 as it plots a come-back from near collapse in 2009 and needs 3 billion euros for a business development programme

AvtoVAZ is mulling the placement of 320 million euros ($434.2 million) in new shares in 2010, another move that could possibly ease the company's pain.

(Reporting by Dasha Korsunskaya; writing by Dmitry Sergeyev) ($1=29.72 Rouble) Keywords: AVTOVAZ DEBT/ ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.