Poland sells Gdynia

Poland has sold one of three historic shipyards which were the focus of a subsidy battle with the EU. Treasury minister Aleksander Grad said the yard at Gdynia on Poland’s northern Baltic coast had been acquired by United International Trust, which in its tender had pledged to continue producing ships there.

In a statement, Grad’s ministry said only that United International Trust had acted through an intermediary, Stichting Particulier Fonds Greenrights, which is based in Curacao, a Caribbean offshore haven run by the Netherlands. Poland’s ARP government agency, which organised the sale, said the deal was worth 288 million zlotys ($89 million).

A decision on the Szczecin yard is due soon and the proceeds of the sales must be used to pay off the yards’ creditors and the state subsidies which were faulted by the European Commission. The issue of the third yard in Gdansk is being handled separately by Brussels, which has yet to give its verdict on a restructuring plan there.