A number of suppliers and contractors in the shipbuilding industry want to buy a minority stake in STX Finland, the ailing shipbuilder in South Korea’s STX Business Group, and they have asked the Finnish government to join in, media reports say.
“A number of major companies are involved in this, also from outside Finland Proper,” Juha Hietarinta, Managing Director of electrical installation firm Laivasahkotyo was quoted by the Finnish national broadcaster YLE as saying. Finland Proper is the province in which the city of Turku is located. STX Finland has a shipyard there and another one in Rauma.
Hietarinta said that the consortium expects that the Finnish government too acquire a holding in STX Finland, which before Christmas lost an order for a third Oasis class cruise liner.
Economic affairs minister Jan Vapaavuori said on Saturday that the government’s participation in acquiring a stake in STX Finlabnd is an option. However, he pointed out that the yard had lost the third Oasis order to STX France already before the government rejected STX Finland’s request for a €50 million subordinated loan. The government did agree to grant the company a smaller amount under different terms.
Financing of the two ships TUI Cruises has on order at STX Finland remains unsolved and Hietarinta said the question is about a few days or weeks at most to solve the matter. The consortium of companies that plans to acquire a stake in the shipbuilder wants not only to secure this order, but to restore confidence in the builder so that it could win new orders.
