German shipbuilder Meyer Werft will take over a major shipyard in Turku, Finland, officials announced Friday, after gaining approval from antitrust authorities.
“We now have a great chance to make the Turku yard strong again. It will not be easy – the competition in our market remains intense,” Meyer said in a statement.
Meyer Werft will have a 70-per-cent stake and run day-to-day business at the former STX Finland shipyard, which specializes in building large cruise ships.
The Finnish state will own the remaining 30 per cent through its company, Finnish Industry Investment.
No value for the deal has been disclosed. A preliminary sales agreement was announced in early August.
Friday’s announcement came after German competition authorities approved the deal, the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy and shipbuilder Meyer Werft said.
The shipyard will be renamed Meyer Turku and will be headed by Meyer Werft’s chief executive, Jan Meyer.
The announcement breathes new life into the Turku shipyard, which has about 1,300 employees and also specializes in building passenger ferries.
Due to a drop in orders, its sister shipyard in Rauma, western Finland, was closed earlier this year.
Following the announcement of new ownership, German group TUI Cruises placed an order for two cruise ships for delivery in 2016 and 2017. The order is worth almost 1 billion euros (1.28 billion dollars).
GNA
