By Duncan Mackay

A 64 per cent stake in the Olimpiisky Sports Complex, built for the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, has been sold for 4.67 rubles ©Wikipedia A 64 per cent stake in the Olimpiisky Sports Complex, built for the 1980 Olympics, has been sold by Moscow City Hall for 4.67 billion rubles (£81 million/$136 million/€100 million).


Russian company Neftegazprod purchased the entire share that previously belonged to the city in an open auction.

The Complex includes the Olimpiyskiy, the large indoor stadium specially built for Moscow 1980 that hosted basketball and boxing.

The Complex also includes a swimming pool which hosted the swimming, diving, water polo, and the swim leg of the modern pentathlon events during the Olympics, and an ice skating arena. 

Winners in boxing at the Olimpiisky Sports Complex in Moscow 1980 included Cuba's Teofilo Stevenson, who a third consecutive gold medal in the heavyweight division ©Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesWinners in boxing at the Olimpiisky Sports Complex in Moscow 1980 included Cuba's Teofilo Stevenson, who a third consecutive gold medal in the heavyweight division
©Hulton Archive/Getty Images




The Olimpiisky Sports Complex is one of the largest covered sporting facilities in Europe, with a total area of more than 213,000 square metres on a territory of more than 167,000 square metres.

It has hosted the Davis Cup finals and bandy World Championships on several occasions, and is home of the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament. 

The arena hosted the 1999 FIBA EuroStars game and the 2005 Euroleague Final Four, while the swimming pool hosted the 2002 World Short Course Swimming Championships. 

The venue hosts major sporting events and concerts by such international headliners as singer Justin Timberlake, who performed there earlier this month, Britney Spears an Paul McCartney. 

It also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, won by Norway's Alexander Rybak.

The Olimpiisky Sports Complex hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, which was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak ©Getty ImagesThe Olimpiisky Sports Complex hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2009, which was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak ©Getty Images

Olimpiisky's general director Mikhail Moskalyov has claimed that the ageing Complex will require investment of 5 billion rubles (£86 million/$146 million/€106 million).

Last year it made net profit of 27 million rubles (£467,000/$770,000/€576,000) on total revenue of 1.26 billion rubles (£22 million/$37 million/€27 million), according to the Complex's financial director Alexei Saldikov.

Neftegazprod bears links to the wealthy Bazhayev family and is registered as the co-founder of two companies co-owned by investment firm Alliance Capital, a part of the Bazhayev's Alliance Group. 

The family also owns oil company Alliance Oil and platinum producer Russian Platinum.

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