Business 3 min read By Alice Ashford
Rheinmetall a plătit integral 138 de milioane de euro pentru Șantierul Naval Mangalia
The German defence group Rheinmetall has paid in full the 138 million euro price for the Mangalia Shipyard in Romania, the largest transaction of its kind for an insolvent company in the country, according to the judicial liquidator CITR.
Rheinmetall Real Estate România SRL has paid in full the price of 138,034,320.47 euro, excluding VAT, for the Mangalia Shipyard, according to a statement from CITR, the judicial liquidator handling the insolvent company. The payment was completed on 9 November, and the sale-purchase contract was signed only after the money had been transferred in full.
The shipyard was sold through a public auction held on 9 October. Rheinmetall and the Swiss shipping company MSC were joint bidders, and their offer won the auction. CITR describes the transaction as the largest of its kind in Romania involving an insolvent or bankrupt company, a claim that places the deal among the biggest asset sales carried out under the country's insolvency framework.
The sale therefore moves through two stages. The purchase price has been settled and the contract concluded, but the transfer of actual ownership has not yet taken place. That step depends on the permits, authorisations and approvals required for the site, and these procedures remain pending. Until they are completed, the buyer's legal control over the shipyard is still awaiting formal confirmation.
The Mangalia Shipyard is located in Mangalia, on the Black Sea coast south of Constanța, the country's main port city. Rheinmetall has said it intends to develop the site as a dual-use centre serving both civil and military shipbuilding, allowing the facility to take on commercial work alongside defence contracts.
The military dimension of the plan is tied to the group's Naval Systems division. Rheinmetall expects the shipyard to play a key role in building four military ships ordered by the Romanian government, positioning the site as part of the country's naval modernisation effort. The combination of commercial and defence production is central to the investment logic, since it spreads the workload across two markets and gives the yard a longer-term order base.
The involvement of MSC alongside Rheinmetall in the bidding underlines the interest of both defence and maritime industries in the Romanian yard. Their joint offer prevailed at auction, although the statement from CITR does not detail how the two partners will share the operation once ownership is transferred. The liquidator's account focuses on the completed payment, the contract and the outstanding permits, and it offers no further figures on the future financing or staffing of the site.
Source: economedia.ro
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