Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder is expected to confirm on Thursday that it is buying Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard best known for Titanic.<\/p>\n
Navantia has been in exclusive negotiations<\/a> since October after Harland and Wolff’s holding company fell into administration.<\/p>\n The deal is also expected to include Harland and Wolff’s facilities in Scotland and England.<\/p>\n Navantia already has a business relationship with the company.<\/p>\n It is the main contractor on a project to build three support ships for the Royal Navy<\/a> with Harland and Wolff acting as UK subcontractor.<\/p>\n The government may announce that it is improving the terms of that deal to reflect increased costs.<\/p>\n The company employs a core staff of about 1,200 in Belfast, Appledore in England and Methil and Arnish in Scotland.<\/p>\n Navantia’s main shipyard is at Cadiz in southern Spain.<\/p>\n It employs more than 4,000 people and has an annual turnover of about \u20ac1.3bn (\u00a3835m).<\/p>\n Harland and Wolff was founded in 1861 by Yorkshireman Edward Harland and his German business partner, Gustav Wolff.<\/p>\n By the early 20th Century, Harland and Wolff dominated global shipbuilding and had become the most prolific builder of ocean liners in the world.<\/p>\n However, in the period since World War Two it has lurched from crisis to crisis and was under UK state control from 1977 to 1989.<\/p>\n In 2019, its then Norwegian owners withdrew financial support and the business fell into insolvency, having not built a ship in a generation.<\/p>\n It was bought by Infrastrata, a small London-based energy firm which did not have significant experience in marine engineering.<\/p>\n Infrastrata later changed its name to Harland and Wolff and in 2022 won the Royal Navy contract as part of a consortium led by Navantia.<\/p>\n However, financial losses mounted as it scaled up its operations and it became increasingly reliant on high-interest borrowings from a specialist US lender, Riverstone.<\/p>\n The company sought a \u00a3200m government loan guarantee to refinance its borrowings but that was rejected for being too risky for taxpayers.<\/p>\n Its holding company entered administration in September<\/a> and restructuring expert Russell Downs was appointed to run the business and find a new owner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
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