State to keep shares in Minsk Watch Factory

The state will keep shares at the Minsk Watch Factory, the official news agency BELTA reports quoting Hanna Karniyevich from the State Committee for Property of Belarus. Under Alexander Lukashenka's decree No 109, the shares of the watch factory were sold to the Swiss company Franck Muller for $12,460,000.

Hanna Karniyevich said that the Swiss company Franck Muller International B.V. will have 52 percent of the shares, because it will make a contribution to the statutory fund. But the company also agreed that the Belarusian state participate in the new company. By 2020, the company can acquire up to 80 percent of the shares.

The company has an obligation to provide at least 700 jobs in 2010-2019.