Finland's Santa Claus Office has avoided bankruptcy thanks to the help of a new owner.

Lapland Safaris Group said it had bought a majority of shares in Dianordia Oy, the company behind the Santa's office attraction in Lapland, and cleared its tax bill.

"With this arrangement we want to ensure that the story of Santa Claus will continue," said Jyrki Niva, the managing director of Lapland Safaris, which organises reindeer and snowmobile safaris.

Santa Claus Office last week said it had just days left to avoid closure over its 200,000 euro tax bill. The problems stemmed from a drop in visits from recession-hit Russians, once its best customers.

The attraction, which offers a year-round chance to be photographed with Santa in exchange for a fee, is one of several Christmas-themed businesses in Lapland, northern Finland.

It had some 300,000 visitors last year and revenues of about €2 million.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.