VTB bank might be close to an agreement with U.S. company AEG on the construction of a $1.5 billion stadium complex in Moscow's Petrovsky Park district.
The complex would include a 45,000-seat stadium, a 15,000-seat arena and a new five-star hotel, Sports Business Daily reported last week.
The delivery date for the new facilities would be 2016, and they would be the "centerpiece" of the 2018 FIFA World Cup football competition. AEG is also in talks with the National Basketball Association on the creation of an NBA Club at the site, which would feature a restaurant, children's play area, a small gymnasium and a retail store and would serve as a base for the sports league's development in Russia.
VTB acquired 74 percent of the Dynamo Management Company, or Upravlyayushchaya Kompania Dinamo, the corporate embodiment of the well-known Dynamo football team, in 2009. The bank promised to redevelop the team's almost 90-year-old stadium at that time, Kommersant reported.
The old stadium will be gutted and its outer walls will house a shopping complex, Sports Business Daily reported last week. The new stadium will be built over the old one in the AEG design.
VTB senior vice president and Dynamo chairman Andrei Peregudov said in an interview with RBC last summer that five designs, created jointly by Russian and foreign companies, were under consideration for the redevelopment project. AEG was not among them.
AEG, headquartered in Los Angeles, is part of the highly diversified Anschutz Company. It owns or controls a number of venues and sports teams worldwide and is also active in concert and exhibition promotion. It is also currently developing 12 arenas in China.
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