Bulgarian state-run Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and HSBC initialised a consultancy contract for the Belene nuclear project, which envisages the installing of two 1,000 MW reactors, and only the formal signing remains, mediapool.bg informed quoting the subcontractor of HSBC for the project in the country Vladimir Karolev. HSBC will receive EUR 2mn for the analysis and 0.95% on the attracted foreign capital if the project proves to be viable. The consultancy activities are to be completed in 18 months. HSBC should prepare the financial model and find new shareholders for the project company. In February 2008, AtomStroyExport, part of Russia's energy company Rosatom, signed a EUR 4bn preliminary contract to build the 2,000 MW plant in the Danube town of Belene. In December 2010, the maximum price for the construction of the nuclear power plant was set at EUR 6.298bn and Rosatom (47%), Finnish utility Fortum Corp (1% with an option to expand its share by 25% at the expense of Rosatom) and French technology consultancy Altran Technologies (1%) were listed as investors in the project. NEC will control 51% of the project company, which is still to be established. NEC, part of BEH, and AtomStroyExport agreed on April 6, 2011 to freeze the project for three months until June 30 to run additional safety checks and to sign the final contract by June 1, both documents effective as of March 31.