Russia’s Rosneft to buy 200 helicopters from Rostec, Finmeccanica

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (PRIME) -- Russian oil major Rosneft has signed a contract to buy 200 helicopters produced under a joint project of industrial holding Rostec and Italy’s Finmeccanica likely to be launched in a year or eighteen months, Rosneft Vice President Andrei Shishkin said at the IV Eurasian Forum on Tuesday.

Earlier Rosneft also signed a contract with AgustaWestland, a unit of Finmeccanica, to buy 10 AW189 helicopters for about 160 million euros.

Rosneft also planned to receive a 30% stake in Helivert, a helicopter-producing joint venture between Russian Helicopters and AgustaWestland. After the deal, AgustaWestland’s stake in Helivert was expected to decrease to 40% from 50%, while Russian Helicopters’ stake was likely to be cut to 30% from 50%. Rosneft planned to place an anchor order for 150 helicopters following the acquisition.

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