Finland willing to buy troubled STX shipyard

Finland's government said on Thursday it will team up with German shipbuilding company Meyer Werft to negotiate the takeover of a troubled shipyard in Turku owned by South Korea's STX. Helsinki has been working for a year to save the shipyard, which STX is threatening to close. "The Korean owners of STX Finland have been informed by the state of Finland that it is interested in the possibility of acquiring the Turku shipyard together with an industrial partner," the government said in a statement. "Both parties are firmly resolved to the ongoing negotiations, but they are still at an early phase, and hence no further details can be disclosed at this point in time." Helsinki did not give any further details on the deal. In February 2013, Finland's government announced a 31-million-euro subsidy ($41.5 million) for the Turku shipyard, which has suffered as orders have fallen. STX Finland was hit particularly hard when it lost a one-billion-euro contract for a cruise ship to STX's shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, in December 2012. Since then, STX has made it clear it would be willing to sell the Finnish shipyard if it received an interesting offer.