Helsinki hall | These entities have been included in the list of potential buyers of the Helsinki hall

The former The future ownership of the Hartwall arena, i.e. the current Helsinki hall, is still open, but in practice the matter has now taken a considerable step forward.

HS reported on Friday that the decision to sell the multipurpose hall is made by Russian oligarchs Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko are going to sell out control. The matter was resolved at the hall company’s general meeting organized on Friday.

Read more: The Russian oligarchs decided to sell their shares: Helsinki hall is going to be sold

Helsinki even a year ago, the largest event arena was waiting for the end of the corona period like the rising moon. All the restaurants in the arena had also been renovated during the corona epidemic, and everything had to be ready.

It was the other way around.

When Russia attacked Ukraine at the end of February, the arena company had to forget the dreams of its previous success. Newly renovated restaurants were waiting for customers who never arrived.

The events ended because their organizers stopped cooperating with the hall. At the beginning of March, the beverage company Hartwall, which was also the hall’s main sponsor, terminated its cooperation agreement with the hall company. At the same time, the name of the multipurpose company was changed to Helsinki hall.

The event arena completed in Pasila in 1997 was once Hjallis Harkimon the idea of ​​a dream. The multipurpose hall, which attracted more than 10,000 spectators, has been empty for more than eight months at the time of writing this article.

Hall website too look sad, as if they have already given up, as concerts, shows and sporting events take place in other arenas.

Hall owners Rotenberg and Timchenko belong to the Russian president Vladimir Putin close circle, and are on the international sanctions list because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Read more: General: The Bailout Office seized oligarch Gennadi Timchenko’s holdings in the former Hartwall Arena

Rotenberg and Timchenko own the hall company through their Arena Events company. The company owns less than half of Helsinki Halli Oy’s shares, but the oligarchs have more than 90 percent control in the hall company.

According to HS’s information, there is no clear individual buyer candidate yet, but several foreign and Finnish entities have shown interest in the arena. The matter was also confirmed by the board of the company that owns the arena on Friday.

The government did not agree to reveal with whom the negotiations are going to take place and how the deal is planned to be implemented. The board informed the company’s other owners on Friday that the sale of the Russian businessmen’s shares is progressing “reasonably”.

According to the press release given to the other investors of the company, Friday’s general meeting will be the last in which Arena Events is involved as a shareholder.

Over here until now, the only person who has made his interest public is the owner of the energy company St1 Mika Anttonen. Anttonen has previously said that he is interested in buying the hall if no one else buys it.

Ilta-Sanom by ASM Global, a global venue management company and producer of live event experiences, has also shown interest in the hall. The company has not commented on the matter to HS or other Finnish media.

According to IS, the German leisure event company CTS Eventim could also be interested in buying the hall. The company is a major player in the industry, which organizes concerts and owns venues. The company has not publicly commented on claims of interest.

Trade speculation also gets involved Joel Harkimo.

In August, Harkimo announced that it had bought the rights to Jokeri’s representative team with the aim of returning the club to playing condition.

Harkimon is known to have said that his financier would be primarily interested in playing Jokers in the hall formerly known as the Hartwall arena. Harkimo has not revealed the identity of the financier.

Read more: A publicity-seeking investor wants to return the Jokers to the “Hartwall arena” – Paavo Arhinmäki explains the difficult challenge

It what Until now, it has been very unclear what the Russian businessmen who control Helsinki Hall intend to do with their ownership. According to experts, due to the sanctions, the money from the sale cannot be paid directly to them. According to expert estimates, the transaction could be carried out in such a way that the money is placed in a frozen account, which will possibly be released after the end of the war.

In its announcement on Friday, Halliyhtiö’s board of directors did not take a position on how the transaction is to be carried out. However, the company emphasized that the trade is conducted in compliance with laws and regulations.