Harland & Wolff (H&W), the stricken Titanic shipbuilder, is on the brink of a £70m government-backed rescue deal that will include guarantees of job security for the company’s workforce.
Sky News has learnt that ministers hope to announce as soon as Thursday that H&W and its four UK shipyards are being acquired by Navantia, the Spanish shipbuilder, after months of negotiations.
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 beyond Thursday 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 £70m 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.
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One government insider hailed the rescue deal as “a victory” for Sir Keir Starmer’s administration after months of uncertainty surrounding the fate of a famous industrial manufacturer.
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H&W employs more than 1,000 British people, but has been grappling with a dearth of orders for new ships.
Navantia had been seeking a £300m improvement to a Ministry of Defence contract on which it was already working alongside H&W.
The precise outcome of those talks was unclear.
Sky News first reported that a deal was close with Navantia ten days ago.
The original MoD contract struck by H&W, whose London-listed holding company collapsed into administration in September, was said by one government source to have been “uneconomic”.
In recent weeks, the government has been working with City lawyers to scrutinise the revised Ministry of Defence contract and whether it would comply with European state aid rules.
H&W’s collapse into administration came after a plea for taxpayer support was rejected by ministers.
Navantia has been providing financing liquidity to the company on a week-by-week basis since the company’s filing for administration.
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The British and Spanish governments have also been engaged in discussions about the prospective deal.
H&W’s four shipyards are in Belfast; Appledore, Devon; Arnish on the Isle of Lewis; and Methil, Fife.
Bankers at Rothschild had been running a sale process to gauge interest in the company and its assets since September.
Founded 163 years ago, Harland & Wolff built the most infamous passenger ship in maritime history, with The Titanic sinking on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912.
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The Department for Business and Trade has been contacted for comment.
