United Shipbuilding Takes Control of Amur

(RIA Novosti) - The United Shipbuilding Corporation will receive 59% - a controlling stake previously owned by a group of private shareholders - in the Amur Shipbuilding Plant, the Russian premier told a shipbuilding meeting Monday.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that on Saturday "[state savings bank] Sberbank and the group of private shareholders signed an agreement on the sale of the share to Sberbank for a small sum so that it could later be sold to the United Shipbuilding Corporation, which is 100% state-owned."

Putin added that the corporation already has 17.9% of the plant's stock. "On the whole, the United Shipbuilding Corporation will have a package of about 77%," he said.

The Amur plant's owes 36 billion rubles ($1.1 billion) in loans, including a 13.9 billion-ruble ($431 million) debt to Sberbank.

The government will help the plant restructure its debt. "In total, almost 2.5 billion rubles [$77 million] and over $400 million will be directed to debt restructuring," Putin said.

- Copyright 2009, RIA Novosti. All rights reserved.

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