The billion-dollar rescue of the financially troubled Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Lower Saxony, has now been contractually agreed upon. All necessary contracts have been signed, said Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies after a works meeting at the shipyard. “The future of the shipyard has now been stabilized and we now firmly assume that we will also experience positive further development of the locations,” said the SPD politician. But it is also clear that the shipyard is now facing a “tough renovation phase “ stands – among other things, around 340 jobs are to be lost. Last week, both the budget committee of the Bundestag and the budget committee of the Lower Saxony state parliament gave the green light for state aid. According to Lies, contractual details were still being negotiated on Friday. A “variety of banks” were involved in saving the shipyard, he said. The state is taking over 80 percent of Meyer Werft. The more than 200-year-old company, which is best known for its cruise ships, has gotten into financial difficulties. The federal and state governments have therefore agreed to temporarily join the company. The rescue package stipulates that the federal and state governments will jointly take over around 80 percent of the shares in the shipyard for 400 million euros. They also provide guarantees of around one billion euros each to secure loans from banks. More on the topic In total, around 7,000 people work for the Meyer Group. In addition to the Papenburg location, it has shipyards in Rostock and Turku, Finland. The shipyard’s order books are well filled. However, some contracts for cruise ships that were concluded before the corona pandemic do not provide for any adjustment to the sharp rise in energy and raw material prices. In addition, in shipbuilding, 80 percent of the construction price is usually only paid when the ship is delivered. Meyer Werft will have to raise almost 2.8 billion euros to finance new shipbuilding by the end of 2027. Time was of the essence for the rescue: an agreement had to be reached by September 15th, otherwise the shipyard would have run out of money.
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