Basketball | Seagulls will have a new owner – with plans to play in Helsinki hall

In the basketball league playing Helsinki Seagulls will get new owners, when the Lithuanian-led Basketball Holding Company, owned by the investment group Quadro Capital, will join the club’s shareholders.

The agreement was announced on Thursday at a press conference, which was organized at the premises of the sports academy Urhea, in Helsinki. Among others, the principal owners of Seagulls were present Tendon and Sinikka Kulvik and “responsible for sports investments” of the Lithuanian company Mindaugas Rainys and Executive Director of the Basketball Association Henrik Dettmann.

When asked, Giedrius Pukas did not agree to reveal exactly how much share the company will buy in Seagulls, but said that it is a “significant” ownership.

With the new contract, the Seagulls also revealed their plans to move to Helsinki Hall, i.e. the former Hartwall Arena. The Russian-owned hall has been empty since February 2022, when Russia started its war of aggression in Ukraine.

The club is currently surveying its possibilities to use the hall. Helsingin Sanomat reported on Tuesday that the heavily indebted warehouse company is on the verge of bankruptcy. The hall is owned by Russian oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenbergwhich were put on the EU sanctions list after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

– Negotiations are not currently underway because there is no one to negotiate with, said a member of the Basketball Holding Company Bruno Venanzi.

Venanzi also said that when the company started negotiations with the club, it had no information about the complex situation at Helsinki Hall. However, the new owners are offering their help to the city of Helsinki to find a solution to the hall issue.

Seagulls the goal has been for a long time to get to play on the euro courts, but the lack of a home arena that meets the standards has prevented it. The Seagulls have played their home matches throughout their history so far in Töölö’s Kisahalli, which can hold a maximum of 1,500 spectators.

Janne and Sinikka Kulvik are still involved in the Helsinki Garden multipurpose arena project as private investors.

In addition to Giedrius Pukas and Mindaugas Rainys, Basketball Holding Company is formed by a former top basketball player Rimantas Kaukėnas and the Belgian Bruno Venanzi, who has previously been the owner of the football club Standard Liège.

The company owns BC Wolves from Vilnius, who play in the Lithuanian premier league.