Harland & Wolff don dey set to save di deal with Spanish firm

Spain state-owned shipbuilder don go confirm for Thursday say dem dey buy Harland and Wolff, di Belfast shipyard wey pipo sabi well-well for di Titanic.

Navantia don dey negotiate very well since October afta Harland and Wolff holding company don enta administration.

All di jobs for di firm suppose dey safe inside dis deal and e go include Harland and Wolff facilities for Scotland and England too.

Di government fit say dem go improve di terms of dat deal to take reflect cost wey don increase.

Di agreement go present as early fruits of di government’s post-Brexit “reset.”

Navantia wey Spain government get 100% ownership, don receive plenty monie from European Commission as part of European Defence monie.

Joining dis monie na possible goal for UK-EU security reset, wey dem go discuss for di summit early next year.

Di Spanish economy minister wey responsible for state-owned businesses, Carlos Cuerpo, meet with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Jonathan Reynolds for London last month.

Navantia don join business relationship with Harland and Wolff already.

Dem be di main contractor for di project to take build three support ships for Royal Navy, while Harland and Wolff dey act as UK subcontractor.

Di company get about 1,200 core staff wey work for Belfast, Apple in England plus Methil and Arnish in Scotland.

Navantia main shipyard dey Cadiz inside southern Spain.

E employ more than 4,000 pipo plus e get annual turnover of about €1.3bn (£835m).

How far be di history of Harland & Wolff?

Harland and Wolff dey founded since 1861 by Yorkshireman Edward Harland plus him German business partner Gustav Wolff.

By early 20th Century, dem dominate global shipbuilding com bicom di most prolific builder of ocean liners around.

But since World War Two ,di company don dey waka from crisis to crisis com under UK state control from 1977 to 1989 .

For 2019, him Norwegian owners pull financial support com make di business enta insolvency afta e no build any ship in long time.

E wan buy by Infrastrata, small London-based energy firm wen no get strong in marine engineering.

Infrastrata later change him name to Harland and Wolff com win Royal Navy contract in 2022 as part of consortium led by Navantia.

But financial losses begin pile up as e try scale up operations com depend plenty on high-interest borrowings from specialist US lender River stone.

Di company dey find £200m government loan guarantee to take refinance him borrowings but dem reject am e too risky for taxpayers.

Him company holding enta administration September com appoint restructuring expert Russell Downs make am run di business find new owner.

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