A rescue deal for the Belfast-based shipbuilder, which could be announced as early as on Thursday, 19th Dec 2024, is expected to include job guarantees for its workforce of more than 1,000 people.
Sky News has learned that ministers hope to announce that Harland & Wolff (H&W) and its four UK shipyards are being acquired by Navantia, S.A., S.M.E, the Spanish shipbuilder, after months of negotiations.
H&W’s assets and sites
Navantia’s board is expected to meet to ratify the deal in the next couple of days. Whitehall sources cautioned that an agreement could still slip but said it would be formally unveiled before Christmas. Under the deal, Navantia will take over all of H&W’s sites following its parent company’s collapse into administration during the autumn.
The Spanish group is expected to pay about £70 million for H&W’s assets while also benefiting from improved terms on a government contract to build three Fleet Solid Support vessels for the Royal Navy. In return, it is understood to have agreed to provide guarantees that it will retain H&W’s existing workforce for a specific period, the length of which was unclear on Tuesday.
