German ship builder Meyer Werft and the Finnish Government are in the advanced stages of negotiations with STX Europe over the proposed acquisition of STX Finland, which operates the Turku shipyard.
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland said in a statement that the consortium has now reached meaningful progress on the main terms of the transaction.
“However, there are a still a number of open issues that need to be solved, including a number of discussions and agreements to be concluded with other stakeholders” the Ministry said.
The statement cited Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori and Meyer Werft managing director Jan Meyer as jointly saying that the negotiations are continuing intensively.
“If we all work on it and create favourable conditions for the yard, we see a positive long-term future for the Turku yard and the whole maritime cluster in the region, which the yard has a symbiotic relationship with,” the duo said.
In February 2013, the Turku shipyard was awarded a €31m subsidy as the shipyard suffered from a drop in order books, according to a report by AFP.
Earlier in 2012, STX Finland lost a $1.4bn cruise liner order for the Turku ship yard after the Finnish Government rejected a loan to finance the project. The company then said it would divest the ship yard if a viable offer was received.
