Photo credit: Jouni Saaristo
Finnish government and the German shipbuilder Meyer Werft have finalised the purchase of the whole share capital of STX Finland Oy from STX Europe Ltd. Meyer Werft and the State of Finland had published the signing of the acquisition agreement on August 4, 2014. Now the remaining open conditions for the acquisition have been fulfilled: The German antitrust authority approved the corporate acquisition after completing a merger control review. Final decisions regarding construction financing with the commercial banks have also been obtained.
The new name of the company is Meyer Turku Oy.
Meanwhile, the order of German TUI Cruises of two new cruise ships from Meyer Turku has become effective. The ordered ships are sister ships for Mein Schiff 3, which was delivered from the Turku Shipyard in May 2014, and Mein Schiff 4, which will be delivered to TUI Cruises in May 2015. The order of these two new ships is expected to create a direct employment effect of at least 10,000 man years. The ships will be delivered in 2016 and 2017. Furthermore, Meyer Turku and TUI Cruises agreed on two options, with deliveries in 2018 and 2019.
Meyer Werft took up 70 percent of the shares and will carry the main responsibility for the yard’s operations and its further development. The State of Finland purchased 30 percent of the share capital through the Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, a fully government-owned investment company. The investors have injected new equity into the new company, which will constitute a solid basis for further development.
