The British company Harland and Wolff, which owns the Belfast shipyard where the Titanic was built, is about to be bought by the Spanish public group Navantia, the latter announced on Thursday.
British subsidiary of the Spanish shipyard company, Navantia UK indicates that it is conducting “negotiations” with the British company in difficulty, “to acquire its activities in Northern Ireland (Belfast), England (Appledore) and Scotland (Methil and Arnish)”.
The company says it expects to finalize the agreement next January, it said Thursday on its website.
No communication on the amount
Navantia did not wish to specify the amount of the sale. The British press mentions the figure of 70 million pounds (79 million francs).
Harland and Wolff, in great difficulty after being refused a government guarantee for bank loans in July, announced in September the liquidation of its non-essential activities and warned that the reorganization of the group would lead to layoffs among its approximately 1,500 employees.
More than 1000 positions preserved
The acquisition will make it possible to preserve more than 1,000 jobs, but also to guarantee the execution of a contract relating to three support ships for the British navy, assures the buyer, recalling that Navantia UK is already the main contractor for this program. construction.
The British government says it “has worked closely with Navantia UK” and has notably agreed to modify the contract for its military ships, according to a separate press release.
According to the British press, this means that he agrees to inject new money into this contract worth nearly two billion euros.
The British government refused to detail the financial terms of the discussions with Navantia.
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Place where the Titanic was built
Created in 1861, a true institution in Northern Ireland, the shipyard notably built the Titanic, which sank in April 1912 off the coast of Newfoundland.
He had also built other large cruise ships, numerous military vessels during the Second World War and the Myrina, the first supertanker built in the United Kingdom.
Harland and Wolff had already been saved from bankruptcy at the end of 2019 thanks to a purchase for 6 million pounds by the British energy infrastructure company Infrastrata.
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