Finland To Sell Nearly Half Of Patria To Kongsberg

Finnish state owned company Patria announced a plan to privatize a portion of the company by selling it to Kongsberg, a partially state-owned defense company in Norway.

"The competition authorities have granted their approval concerning sale by State of Finland of 49.9 percent of the defense company Patria Oyj to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS," the company said in a statement.

Patria said the value of the deal was 283.5 million euros ($316 million). In 2015, Patria's operating profit was 46.8 million euros ($52.1 million), down some 16 percent from a year before.

Half of Kongsberg is owned by the Norwegian state and the rest by international investors.