Russian hotel business moving into Finland

Muscovite businessman also intends to build holiday cottages around golf course

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By Leena Härkönen in Kangasniemi
     
      Kangasniemi is a community of around 6,000 souls, located in Southern Savo in the middle of a triangle formed by the cities of Jyväskylä, Pieksämäki, and Mikkeli.
      One of Finland's many rural communities with a summer population considerably expanded by cottage-dwellers, Kangasniemi was voted "Finland's Prettiest Municipality" in 1997, and now the place is hoping to get on the map in an even bigger way in the tourism business.
     
The opportunity for expansion has opened up with the arrival in the midst of the winter snow and ice of a Russian hotel chain.
      The expressions on the faces at the Kangasniemi community centre on the Wednesday before Christmas were full of satisfaction: a deal had just been signed for the sale of a large batch of golf course shares, together with a preliminary contract on a large plot of land for development.
     
The sellers were a golf course enterprise and the local congregation. The buyer, meanwhile, was Russian entrepreneur Umakhan Umakhanov, through the holding companies Zgukovka and Finn-Zhukovka.
      Puula-Golf, in the process of building an 18-hole lakeshore golf course, sold the Moscow-based businessman all of the remaining shares in the venture for EUR 330,000, while the parish authorities parted with a 30-hectare plot of land nearby for EUR 795,000.
      Umakhanov intends to build holiday cottages on the plot of land, which will have views over the waters of Puulavesi and over the golf course.
     
This is not Umakhanov's first bite at Kanganiemi. He has already bought from the municipality a piece of land zoned for a hotel development. The plot has been on the market for a couple of decades, but now the Russian intends to build a 5-star luxury hotel and entertainment centre here. Construction work is due to get under way in the spring.
      Umakhanov's company, active in the hotel and construction business in Russia, now intends to extend its horizons beyond Moscow and the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
      Thus far, the plans for European expansion have come no further than Kangasniemi, to which Umakhanov was attracted by the good reviews he received from a fellow-Russian who lives here.
      Umakhanov was equally pleased with the location, especially after the deals began to emerge. He described it as "a delightful place, like a mini-Switzerland".
     
Golf is booming in Russia, but the country still only has one and a half places to play - an 18-hole course in Moscow and a 9-hole course in St. Petersburg.
      The plan is to fly in VIP guests and corporate executives to play golf in Kangasniemi, which is handily located for flights into and out of Mikkeli Airport.
      According to the Puula-Golf CEO Keijo Mäenpää, locals may find themselves teeing off among Russian visitors and figures in the Finnish eastern trade.
      Tiina Snicker, the local congregation's financial officer, was well pleased with the land deal, on which the parish council was unusually required to take a vote.
      Municipal Council Chairman Seppo Kirjavainen welcomed the foreign injection of capital, saying it was a significant boost to the community. The golf course is scheduled to open in the summer of 2006. Work on the summer cottages will go ahead once the hotel project has been completed, Umakhanov has promised.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.12.2005

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: One pioneer may tempt in others

Links:
  Kangasniemi
  Puula-Golf

LEENA HÄRKÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
leena.harkonen@hs.fi