Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's subsidiary Fincantieri Europe on Friday signed an agreement to acquire 50 percent of the share capital of strategic shipyard STX from the French state, Fincantieri said in a statement.
The agreement provides for a purchase price of 59.7 million euros for Fincantieri, which will be paid through available financial resources, state-owned Fincantieri said.
"Through this industrial partnership, Fincantieri strengthens its leadership on the global market," the company stated.
With more than 150 years of history, STX France is a global player in maritime construction, said Fincantieri.
Based in Saint-Nazaire, in Brittany on the French Atlantic coast, the group operates one of the most modern shipyards in the world and has great expertise in the design and engineering of the most complex and innovative ships, according to Fincantieri.
STX France- which the French government considers a unique and strategic shipyard - has around 2,600 employees and a network of more than 500 subcontractors.
In 2016 STX generated revenues of approximately euro 1.4 billion of the share capital of represented by France's Agence des Participations de l'Etat (APE), Fincantieri stated.
Italian government previously said it would only accept an agreement granting Fincantieri a controlling stake in STX, which France's president Emmanuel Macron decided to nationalise last year.
The prospect of a Fincantieri takeover raised fears in France for jobs at STX's Saint-Nazaire site, the only yard in the country big enough to build aircraft carriers and other large warships.
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