Meyer inks deal for Finnish shipyard

Deal was announced by Dr. Jan Meyer, Managing Partner, Meyer Werft, (left) and Mr. Jan Vapaavuori, Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs

AUGUST 4, 2014 — German Shipbuilder Meyer Werft and the State of Finland have now signed an agreement to acquire the STX Finland shipyard, which will start a new lease on life as Meyer Turku Shipyard Oy with two new cruise ship orders from Germany’s TUI Cruises.

“The exact purchase price in the transaction cannot be disclosed,” says the Finnish Government, “but the current distressed situation of the company was reflected in the valuation of the company, and therefore, also in the final purchase price.”

Meyer is taking a 70 percent ownership share and the main responsibility for the yard’s operations and its further development. The state’s ownership share, through the fully government owned investment company Finnish Industry Investment Ltd (FII) will be 30 percent.  

Meyer Werft notes that STX Finland is a specialist in the construction of cruise ships and a yard that holds exceptional technological knowhow.

“This acquisition will strengthen the yards in Papenburg, Turku and Rostock,” says managing partner Dr. Jan Meyer. “By joining forces with Turku we can offer more flexibility to our customers. In addition both shipyards respect each other for their high level of professionalism and thus can learn a lot from each other in order to improve their working processes or to join forces on research and development.

“We are confident that in this way we can create a good opportunity for the Finnish maritime cluster to thrive and also hope to interest many young people to join us for building the future high-tech ships.”

The acquisition is still subject to clearance by the antitrust authorities and banks.

According to the Finnish Government, the estimated value of the orders from TUI Cruises is expected to amount to almost 1 billion euros and the state of Finland is “preparing to grant a total of 10 million euros of innovation aid to two new TUI-cruise vessels.”

The order also envisages two option vessels.

The ships will be sister vessels to the 2,500 passenger Mein Schiff 3, delivered from the Turku yard in June, and Mein Schiff 4, currently under construction at the yard for 2015 delivery.