Referring to sources close to a presidential aide, the paper said the Federal Property Management Agency had nominated Serdyukov for the post. The agency confirmed the information saying that "a final decision on board chairman will be made by the Russian president, who should sign the relevant decree."
The United Shipbuilding Corporation will become the second state-owned company to be headed by Serdyukov, who was appointed in March 2007 board chairman of Chimprom, a chemicals company in Volgograd in southern Russia, the newspaper said.
President Vladimir Putin signed a number of decrees establishing a 100% state-owned shipbuilding corporation in March 2007. The corporation will be registered with the Nevskoye Design Bureau in St. Petersburg and unite shipbuilding and maintenance subsidiaries in western and northern Russia and in the Far East. The corporation's contract portfolio will total $12 billion.
Putin replaced former Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov with Serdyukov, who used to head the Federal Tax Service, in February 2007. Ivanov was appointed a first deputy prime minister.