Poland to sell Gdansk shipyard

Poland's Gdansk shipyard will be sold to Ukrainian firm Donbass in a $US400 million deal to avoid bankruptcy, the head of the yard said.

The yard has been under threat since the European Union demanded that it cut capacity or repay an estimated 1.3 billion euros in state subsidies it received since Poland joined the bloc in 2004. The yard's chief executive said Industrial Donbass Union, one of Ukraine's biggest financial and industrial groups, would acquire an 83 per cent stake with the possibility of buying the remaining 17 per cent from the state. The deal to save the politically sensitive shipyard, which could be expected to win approval from Poland's competition watchdog, comes days before Poland is due to hold an early parliamentary election on October 21.

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