Alstom, Aker Yards to set up shipbuilding joint venture

French engineering conglomerate Alstom plans to set up a shipbuilding joint venture with Norwegian company Aker Yards which will own a 75 percent stake, the two companies announced on Wednesday.

The joint venture will include Alstom's subsidiary Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire and Lorient, and Aker Yards will pay 50 million euros (60 million U.S. dollars) for the 75 percent stake in the new company, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Alstom will commit itself to keeping until 2010 the remaining 25 percent, which Aker Yards has an option to buy for a price depending on financial performance.

The agreement was not final yet, but Aker Yards said it expected the deal to close by the end of March.

In a bid to recover from near financial ruin, Alstom, the French manufacturer of trains, ships and power generators, has spent about 1 billion euros (1.2 billion dollars) in restructuring in the past two years, and has cut 11,500 employees to 67,000.

Source: Xinhua