The German federal state of Hesse opposes the sale of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport to NR Holding. According to media reports, the company is headed by Russian businessman Viktor Kharitonin.
The regional authorities own a stake in the airport. The regional Ministry of Finance asked the German government to block the deal. “We ask the federal government, which accompanies the process in accordance with the law on foreign trade, to explore all possible options in order to prevent this sale,” the DPA agency quoted the agency as saying (TASS quote).
In early February, it became known that NR Holding acquired the Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, which went bankrupt in 2021, located in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The deal still needs to be approved by the Federal Ministry of Economics. According to the DPA, the deal is valued at regarding €20 million.
Mr. Kharitonin does not yet appear in any sanctions list of the European Union. Now he occupies 66th place in the Russian list Forbes. In 2021, his fortune was estimated at $3.4 billion, but by 2022 it had dropped to $1.4 billion.