Hellenic Shipyards deal cleared by EU
BRUSSELS – The European Commission yesterday approved the acquisition of Hellenic Shipyards, Greece’s largest, by the consortium led by the Howaldswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) shipyard and Ferrostaal, a branch of trucks group MAN. «The Commission has assessed the competitive impact of the operation in the European Economic Area and found that it would not give rise to any competiiton concerns,» the Commission said in a statement. The EU’s executive body also approved the state-funded voluntary retirement program, but is still studying other state aid to the company and will publish a decision on this early next month. The Commission decided that the acquisition will not greatly affect HDW’s already leading position in submarine building. They also believe no competition issues will arise in Hellenic Navy procurements or in other Hellenic Shipyard activities, such as shipbuilding for private companies and construction of train engines and carriages. «The strategic rationale is to focus the capacity (of the shipyard) on the assembly of submarines, ordered before the current operation by the Hellenic Navy, as well as on possible future submarine orders from the navy,» the Commission said. Before its acquisition, Hellenic Shipyards was 51-percent owned by former state bank ETBA, with the employees’ cooperative holding the other 49 percent. Recently, engineering group Babcock Boersig and the Preussag group, HDW’s main shareholders, agreed to sell their share to US fund One Equity Partners.
