The controlling shareholding in the Moldovan Metallurgical Plant located in Rybnitsa was purchased by the Transnistrian administration. Such a step was taken in the region for the first time. So far the local authorities only conceded public property to private economic entities. No data about the transaction, price and number of shares have been yet made public, IPN reports.

The Transnistrian leader Evgheny Shevchuk said they will make everything possible for the plant to continue to work in a normal regime and to avoid layoffs. The local press reported that the plant employs over 2,500 people.

95% of the plant’s production is exported. Last summer 30% of the plant’s shares were sold to the Russian company “Metalloinvest”. In 2014 the plant produced about 400,000 tonnes of metal products. The company was founded 30 years ago.