German Steelmaker to Sell Luxury Yacht-Building Arm Blohm + Voss – REPORT

Germany’s ThyssenKrupp In Talks To Sell Civil Shipbuilding Operation Blohm + Voss to U.K Private Equity Firm Citing Overcapacity, Low Orders

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)–German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA.XE) is in exclusive talks to sell large parts of its Blohm + Voss shipbuilding business to U.K. private equity fund Star Capital Partners, the Financial Times Deutschland reports Monday, citing unidentified persons.

ThyssenKrupp has provided Star Capital with access to “all important information” and a deal could be struck as soon as November, the newspaper says.

ThyssenKrupp and Star Capital Partners weren’t immediately available to comment.

ThyssenKrupp had previously said it is in talks with a U.K. financial investor, but hadn’t identified the bidder.

The German steelmaker and engineering company has been trying to sell all civil shipbuilding operations of Blohm + Voss–which makes luxury yachts–for the better part of two years.

A sale to yacht builder Abu Dhabi Mar fell apart in July. An offer from family-owned German shipbuilder Luerssen was dismissed by ThyssenKrupp earlier this month.

Over the past few years ThyssenKrupp has been selling off its civil shipyard business, citing massive global overcapacity and a lack of orders.

The company has said it intends to keep the part of Blohm + Voss that designs and develops naval vessels such as frigates, corvettes and submarines.

Newspaper website: www.ftd.de

-By Frankfurt Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires

Updated: December 5, 2011 (Originally published September 26, 2011)

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