Representatives of a large American arena company have been in Helsinki this week.
The ASM Global company is rumored to be eyeing Helsinki Hall. The company founded the subsidiary ASM Global Finland in Finland in October. There has been no activity in the arena for more than a year. KIMMO BRANDT / AOP
According to information obtained by Iltalehti from several different sources, the company called ASM Global is far along in the purchase project of the Helsinki hall.
ASM Global is a venue management company. It manages the operations of more than 350 venues around the world and owns, among other things, arenas and stadiums.
The company’s head office is located in Los Angeles. European operations are managed from Manchester.
According to information provided to Iltalehti, company representatives have visited Helsinki this week.
In the hands of the Russians
The affairs of the hall are decided by Arena Events o.y. It is owned by Russian-Finnish businessmen Roman Rotenberg and Gennadi Timchenko. At least the latter belongs to the close circle of the arbitrary president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Arena Events owns 44.98 percent of Helsinki Halli oy’s shares.
Both main owners of the hall are on the US embargo list and Timchenko is also on the EU embargo list, so the arena trade is a slow entity.
It is essential that the sellers need an exception permit for the sale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, the enforcement agency and the administration of the United States. They themselves have to apply for an exemption from the parties in question.
Despite persistent sales rumors from insiders, no official process regarding the sale of the property under sanctions is underway.
– The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not have an exemption process underway in connection with the sale of the Helsinki hall, stated the head of the sanctions team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pia Sarivaara For Iltalehti on Thursday afternoon.
At no point has the application for an exemption permit been pending at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
When an exemption permit for the sale of the hall’s shares is applied for, the process will take a few weeks even in Finland.
Areena’s long-term CEO From Kimmo Kivis recently moved to a new employer, the event company KOKO Lahti owned by the city of Lahti, as the new CEO.