Swan Hellenic is moving closer to acquiring the Minerva from a leasing company that is essentially under Russian sanctions.

The company said that following negotiations and discussions ongoing since September 2022 and concluded in January this year, Swan Hellenic and its Irish counsels have identified a legal mechanism that allows it to take ownership of Minerva by acquiring the GTLK subsidiary company which is currently the registered owner of the vessel.

The necessary application to the Central Bank of Ireland was finalized some weeks ago and has already been submitted.

Approval of the transaction is expected to take two to three weeks.

Pending the issue of this license by the Central Bank of Ireland, Swan Hellenic has decided to postpone the reactivation of Minerva. The 31-night cruise of Antarctica scheduled to depart on Feb. 7 has been cancelled.