HELSINKI, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The sale of the Arctech Helsinki Shipyard was confirmed by the company here on Wednesday. The buyers are Russian businessmen Rishat Bagautdinov and Vladimir Kasyanenko.
The present owner, the Russian state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), has been trying to sell the wharf for three years, business daily Kauppalehti reported.
The new owners possess several freight, shipping and ship construction companies as well as the cruiseship company Vodohod, Kauppalehti said.
Arctech noted in its release that the sale was an important step towards securing new orders. The current tenders of the yard comprise cruisers, icebreakers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers. Contracts of intent have been signed for part of them.
The operations of the Helsinki yard have been running at a loss in recent years.
The price of the transaction has not been published. Kauppalehti quoted the Russian newspaper Kommersant as saying that it would be 60 million euros (67.25 million U.S. dollars).
The wharf is located on the southwestern side of Helsinki. Shipbuilding there started in the mid-19th century.
