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Finland's major shipyard to belong entirely to German Meyer Werft

Xinhua, April 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Finnish ministry of employment and the economy announced on Wednesday that German shipbuilder Meyer Werft will now become the sole owners of the Meyer Werft Turku shipyard.

The ministry said in a press release that Finland would sell its 30 percent share of Turku shipyard to Meyer Werft.

In August 2014, the Finnish government and Meyer Werft signed an agreement together with the shipyard's former owner, STX Europe AS, for the purchase of the whole stake of the shipyard.

As agreed, Meyer Werft owned 70 percent of the dockyard, and the remaining 30 percent belonged to the Finnish state. The new shipyard changed it's name from STX Finland to Meyer Werft Turku.

The change in the ownership will become effective in a few weeks, said the ministry.

Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Jan Vapaavuori said he was satisfied with the sell-off. "It is good to see that Meyer is sharing our confidence and is further investing in the Turku shipyard. This benefits not only the yard, but also the maritime cluster and Finland as a whole," he was quoted as saying.

The Turku shipyard used to belong to STX Finland, a Finnish shipbuilding company employing some 2,500 people. The size of staff shrank to 1,350 after the purchase by the state of Finland and Meyer Werft. Endit