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Russian Vladimir Zinchenko became the owner of Seaway shipyard

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Russian entrepreneur Vladimir Zinchenko has completely bought the bankrupt Slovenian shipyard Seaway Yachts and its design division Seaway Design, Slovenian media report .

Zinchenko paid €5.3 million (excluding tax) for both companies.

Zinchenko's company SVP Avio became the owner of two Seaway factories in Bled and Zgosa.

Zinchenko owns half a hectare of land and buildings in Bled and 2,500 square meters of office space in Zgos.

SVP Avio was the only bidder to buy the Slovenian shipyard producing yachts under the Greenline and Shipman brands.

Seaway was declared bankrupt in February 2015. Seaway Yachts employees had not been paid since late 2014. Seaway had no shortage of orders, but did not have the financial means to secure them.

Seaway's assets were put up for auction. Russian businessman Vladimir Zinchenko, who was distributing Greenline and Shipman yachts in Slovenia, managed to lease the shipyard for one year.

Along with production facilities and equipment, Zinchenko received 20 contracts to build yachts. In August 2015, Zinchenko, with only 25 workers at his disposal, produced his first yacht, the Greenline 33. The Russian noted in an interview with local media that he is pleased with the volume of orders coming in from around the world and intends to produce 50 to 70 vessels in 2016 and significantly expand his workforce.

The shipyard currently employs around 165 people. During the two years that Seaway has been under lease to Zinchkenko, the yard has produced a hundred hulls and developed a new Greenline 36 model, with which it intends to enter new markets.

Now that the Russian businessman is the owner of Seaway, the company will expand slightly to a maximum of 200 employees, said SVP Avio director Žiga Petač. He said that the main task of the shipyard now is to establish an extensive sales network. Seaway intends to develop markets in the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Arabian Peninsula, Panama and Colombia.

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