News

Meyer Werft's STX Finland acquisition moves ahead, may win major order from Norwegian

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 30 June 2014 30 June 2014

Joseph L. Meyer Werft, the German shipbuilder that is a leading builder of cruise liners, and the Finnish government have made progress in talks to jointly acquire the STX Finland shipyard in Turku from its Korean owner, while Cruise Business understands Meyer is about to win an order for two very large ships from Norwegian Cruise Line.

"The buyer consortium has reached a preliminary understanding with the Korean seller about the principal terms of the acquisition. A number of questions, however, still remain open and these will have to be solved, including agreements with other stakeholders," Ministry of Employment and the Economy said in a statement. The shipyard in currently owned by STX Offshore & Shipbuilding, the South Korean company that put most of its overseas assets up for sale in late 2012.

"It is our mutual objective to make such progress in the matter by the end of next week so that further information could be provided then," the ministry said. The Finnish government plans to take a minority stake in STX Finland, which has a shipyard in Turku.

Cruise Business understands that Norwegian Cruise Line is close to placing an order for two 200,000 gross ton ships at Meyer Werft, which would be too large to be built at its yard in Papenburg in Germany. However, they could be built at the shipyard in Turku, which also built the first two 226,000 gross ton Oasis class ships of Royal Caribbean International, the contemporary market unit of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL).

The German shipbuilder is also understood to be in talks for further two 150,000 gross ton ships for Star Cruises.

Fincantieri prices IPO at floor of €0.78 per share, government investment company not selling shares

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 30 June 2014 30 June 2014

Fincantieri, the Italian state controlled shipbuilder, has placed its initial public offering (IPO) at €0.78 per share, the floor of the €0.78 to €1.00 range it had indicated earlier. The company will only offer 450 million shares out of a maximum of 703.9 million that it had planned to sell.

“Fintecna S.p.A., in its capacity as Selling Shareholder, will not sell any Shares in the Global Offering. An Overallotment option for 50,000,000 Shares will be granted by Fintecna S.p.A,” Fincantieri said.

Fintecna is a holding company that belongs to Cassa depositi e prestiti, an Italian investment company in which the government has a 80.1% stake.

Trading in the shares of Fincantieri will start on 3 July.

TUI AG and listed subsidiary TUI Travel plc to merge

Details: Written by Kari Reinikainen Kari Reinikainen; Category: Top Headlines Top Headlines; Published: 28 June 2014 28 June 2014

The German travel group TUI AG and TUI Travel plc, the London based listed tour company in which the German company is the biggest shareholder, will merge. The merged company would be called TUI AG and it would be domiciled in Germany and listed on both London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

“If the Merger is consummated, it would bring together the content portfolio of hotels and cruise ships of TUI AG with access to customers through the distribution capability and unique holiday concepts of TUI Travel,” TUI AG said in a statement.

TUI AG owns Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten, the German destinational to luxury cruise operator in full and has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises, the Hamburg based premium market operator. TUI Travel owns Thomson Cruises with five ships that cater for the UK market plus Quark Expeditions, the boutique cruise brand. It is also the owner of Intercruises, the shoreside services provider to the cruise industry. Both copmpanies' travel shops are major retailers of cruises in Europe.

The merger would create a pure play integrated leisure travel Group that is a global leader, capable of delivering a complete end-to-end customer experience, thereby significantly enhancing the Group’s growth opportunities and capability for delivering material financial benefits.

TUI AG owns the most recognised travel brand in Europe. With over 230 hotels and more than 155,000 beds it is Europe’s largest holiday hotelier while its cruise operation is one of Europe’s most successful. Having rationalised its businesses through oneTUI it has ambitious growth plans to double the size of its content.

TUI Travel’s leisure tourism business operates as a single organisation across Europe with a portfolio of tour operator brands servicing more than 30 million customers. Having differentiated itself from the rest of the industry, its growth is focused on the continued development of unique holidays, which are available exclusively through its brands, distributed directly through its own channels with significant numbers of its customers flying on its modern holiday airline fleet.