Family owned and Bremen based shipyard Luerssen has agreed to acquire the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg from a British private equity company.

“With the acquisition of Blohm+Voss, Luerssen is entering into a long term relationship to strengthen their portfolio in the repair and refit activities for yachts, naval and commercial ships as well as enhancing its naval new build activities within their corporation. The contract between Luerssen and the funds of British private equity investor, Star Capital Partners has been signed and the agreement is currently subject to approval from the German Fair Trade Commission (Bundeskartellamt),” Luersen said in a statement.

“With the acquisition of Blohm+Voss we are taking over a shipyard with a strategically advantageous location and versatile production facilities. We want to use these facilities to complement our existing refit and repair activities and also to offer our customers an ever better service,” explained Peter Luerssen, Managing Partner at Luerssen Maritime Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG.

“In addition, we would like to utilise the competence and experience of the shipyard and its employees for the new build of complex naval ships and continue their production at the Hamburg site. The construction of yachts at the Hamburg yard will depend on the overall market situation and it is difficult to judge at this time.”

Pending approval from the German Fair Trade Commission, Luerssen will combine six highly specialised shipyards with approximately 2800 employees in Northern Germany.

The parties have both agreed that the purchase price will be kept confidential. The Star Capital funds acquired Blohm+Voss in December 2011 from ThyssenKrupp.