Russia's state-run United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) bought 79.33 percent of the Vyborg shipbuilding plant in country's north-west for 1.8 billion rubles ($61.8 million) having consolidated almost all large vessel production assets in Russia, Kommersant business daily newspaper reported on Monday.
The deal will allow USC to produce sea ice-breakers at the newly-purchased plant, using about 100 hectares of land on the coast of the Gulf of Finland. USC expects to get orders from Russia's large energy companies, such as the country's gas giant Gazprom, to keep the plant running at full capacity.
USC also signed eight billion ruble ($274.6 million) contracts with the shipyard to make two diesel-powered sea ice-breakers with 16 MW capacities each by 2015, the paper said.
