DCN (Direction des Constructions Navales), the French naval shipbuilder, has declared itself interested in a possible take-over of German shipyard HDW, put on sale by the US investment fund One Equity Partner. "We are looking to establish a strategic alliance in Europe to form a major group in the naval shipbuilding sector. A deal with HDW, one of our largest competitors, or with another similar group, would probably be a unique opportunity to reach this objective," a DCN spokesman said. "Our capitalisation of ¬563M ($659.7M) and our low debt clearly permits us to carry out a deal of this kind," DCN management added. DCN is not the only company closely watching corporate developments at HDW. France's Thales Group, a global electronics company serving aerospace, defence and information technology markets, has also expressed interest. This could however be linked to DCN, since DCN and Thales are both engaged in a joint naval marketing venture, called Armaris. If a deal were to materialise with HDW, the German group could logically become associated with this venture.

With acknowledgement to Fairplay Daily News.