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Sulzer gets second license unblocking assets frozen by U.S. sanctions

FILE PHOTO: People stand on stairs at a building of Swiss engineering group Sulzer AG in the town of Winterthur north of Zurich June 24, 2009. REUTERS /Arnd Wiegmann

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss pump-maker Sulzer <SUN.S>, which was last week freed from U.S. sanctions related to its Russian investor Viktor Vekselberg, said its business was "fully back to normal" after it received a second license fully unblocking its assets.

The engineering group said on Thursday it was no longer a blocked party under U.S. sanctions after authorities approved its buyback of shares reduced Vekselberg's stake to less than 50 percent.

Sulzer's U.S. bank accounts had been frozen for certain transactions after sanctions were levied against Vekselberg and other oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin as punishment for alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and other "malign activity".

The action was carried out by U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control. (OFAC)

"OFAC issued a second license explicitly unblocking Sulzer assets to the extent these were blocked," a Sulzer spokesman said on Saturday.

"Sulzer is fully back to normal," he said.

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Angus MacSwan)