Deal agreed for Russian to buy German shipyard
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BERLIN
A former Russian energy minister is poised to take over an ailing shipbuilder in northeastern Germany, after state authorities and creditors agreed Monday with Igor Yusufov on a euro40 billion ($56 billion) deal.
The Wadan shipyard's insolvency administrator, Marc Odebrecht, said that all parties involved had agreed on the terms of a deal that still needs to be signed. The takeover foresees Yusufov founding a new company called Nordic Yards, which will then take over the Wadan production. Some 1,600 of 2,500 jobs at the yards, located in Wismar and Rostock, are to be kept.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the terms of the takeover last week in a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and expressed confidence in the deal.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania governor Erwin Sellering said the chancellor's vote of confidence had been important to the state, which is providing more than euro35 billion in credit as part of the deal.
Yusufov, 53, also sits on the management board of Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Nordic Yards is to produce specialized ships, such as ice breakers and tankers for liquefied natural gas, its representative said in a statement.
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