MSC Said in Talks to Buy German State-Held Meyer Werft Stake

By William Wilkes and Eyk Henning

Sep 20, 2026 (Bloomberg) –MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. is in talks to acquire the roughly 80% stake in German cruise-ship builder Meyer Werft GmbH held by the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony, according to people familiar with the matter.

The discussions are ongoing and other suitors could still emerge, said the people, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. No final decision has been made and the talks could still fall apart, they said. A potential sale would comprise the company’s shipyards in Papenburg near the Dutch border and the port of Rostock on the Baltic Sea, the people said.

Government officials don’t wish to sell at a loss to their combined investment of €400 million ($459 million), two of the people said. Spokespeople for Lower Saxony and the German government declined to comment. MSC didn’t respond to a request for comment while Meyer Werft declined to comment.

A sale would return control of the more than 230-year-old shipyard to private hands after the two governments stepped in to rescue it, injecting €400 million and granting credit of €2.6 billion in 2024. The shipbuilder ran into financial trouble during the Covid-19 pandemic, when banks started questioning its creditworthiness.

Germany Agrees to Rescue Cruise Ship Builder Meyer Werft

But the tides have turned for the volatile industry, with cruise-ship construction capacity in high demand and control lying in a handful of European yards. 

MSC Cruises is Meyer Werft’s largest customer. It has signed a preliminary agreement last year for four next-generation cruise ships and options for another two, a package potentially worth as much as €10 billion. The vessels are due to be delivered annually from 2030 and are expected to keep Meyer Werft’s Papenburg yard occupied through 2035.

It also counts Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. as long-standing customers.

Germany Backs Cruise Ship Order with €11.5 Billion Guarantee

Meyer Werft is a major employer in Lower Saxony, making its future ownership particularly important for the regional economy. Meyer Werft employs some 5,000 people directly, while more than 20,000 additional jobs in the region are linked to the company and its supplier network, according to the shipbuilder.

© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

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