According to a newspaper report, the Italian shipyard group Fincantieri is seeking a merger with the Thyssenkrupp marine subsidiary.

CEO Pierroberto Folgiero recently presented corresponding ideas to representatives of the German government, reported the "Handelsblatt" (Thursday edition), citing industry circles. The aim is to create a European champion. The Italians had previously met with rejection from Thyssenkrupp. For years, Thyssenkrupp has been looking for a solution for its armaments division, which builds submarines and warships, among other things. Fincantieri has repeatedly been considered as a potential partner.

Thyssenkrupp did not want to comment on the report and referred to the ongoing talks about a partial sale to the financial investor Carlyle and the federal government, which has commissioned the state bank KfW with this. In addition, further possibilities for the spin-off of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) are being explored on the capital market. Fincantieri declined to comment. None was initially available from the German government either.

(Report by Christoph Steitz, Gianluca Semeraro and Tom Käckenhoff. Edited by Ralf Bode. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)