Shares for 400 million euros
State joins Meyer Werft on a temporary basis
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Meyer Werft is threatened with bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of jobs are at risk. The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony therefore want to take over the vast majority of the shipbuilding company for a sum of millions. But only temporarily, as Hanover reports.
The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony want to take over around 80 percent of the shares in the ailing Meyer Werft for 400 million euros. Lower Saxony's Economics Minister Olaf Lies announced this in the state parliament in Hanover. In addition, the state wants to provide guarantees together with the federal government to prevent the company from going bankrupt. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the guarantees should amount to around one billion euros each.
Last week, the federal and state governments declared that they wanted to invest in the shipyard on a temporary basis. Lies now gave the specific numbers. The economics minister justified the planned rescue by saying that the shipyard crisis directly and indirectly threatened more than 20,000 jobs in Germany, around half of them in Lower Saxony. “The state cannot be a spectator,” said the SPD politician. In addition, the maritime industry in Germany must be preserved.
Lies emphasized that the state does not aim to remain a permanent majority shareholder in the shipyard. “We can very well imagine a successful future for the shipyard in private hands,” he said. This also includes a buyback option for the Meyer family. Meyer Werft, known for cruise ships, must raise almost 2.8 billion euros to finance new shipbuilding by the end of 2027. Agreements must be reached by September 15th.
It was said that the imbalance was not due to a lack of orders. However, some contracts for the ships were concluded before the corona pandemic and do not provide for any adjustment to the increased energy and raw material prices. In addition, in the industry, 80 percent of the construction price is usually only paid when the ship is delivered – so the shipyard has to finance the construction with interim loans.
