A Finnish pension insurance company has stated that it could invest in the Finland shipbuilding industry, while the head of a working group that set up by the government to look into the future of the maritime cluster in the Nordic country has opposed the idea of government’s participation in the company as shareholder, media reports say.
Harri Sailas, managing Director of Eläkevakuutusyhtiö Ilmarinen said in an interview with the Kauppalehti business daily that the company could invest in the finnish shipbuilding industry. However, he added that an investment in the troubled STX Finland shipbuilding company in its current form is not an option as the risk would be too high.
Meanwhile, Ole Johansson, head of a working group to look at the future of the maritime cluster in Finland, was heard by the Parliament’s economic affairs committee on Wednesday. Johansson had stated thsat the government should not acquire an ownership stake in the clountry’s shipbuilding industry, the national broadcaster YLE said on the Internet.
Earlier, a number of suppliers and contractors to STX Finland had expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in STX Finland on the condition that the government join them. Economic affairs minister Jan Vapaavuori said such participation is an option.
Fincantieri, the Italian state owned shipbuilder, said today it had completed an earlier announced acquisition of a 50.75% stake in STX OSV, the offshore services vessel builder, from STX Finland’s Norway based parent STX Europe,m ewhich again is part of the STX Business Group of South Korea. STX Europe will deposit the NOK640 million it received from the sale with a public trustee for a pending repayment of a bond loan.
