The Bundeskartellamt has today cleared the Lürssen group’s project to acquire 25% of the shares in Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven and the pertaining real estate company in the first phase of merger control. Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven’s current shareholders Gustav Zech foundation and the Rönner group will continue to be invested in the company.

Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt: “Both the Bremen-based Lürssen group and Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven are active in the area of building and repairing civilian ships, especially yachts. There are a number of competitors in this area, both in Germany and worldwide. For this reason, we have cleared the planned acquisition.”

The Lürssen group focuses on the construction and repair of so-called superyachts of more than 60 metres in length. In 2021 the Lürssen group completed the superyachts “Nord”, “Moon Sand” and “AHPO”. The company also focuses on building and repairing naval vessels. The Lürssen group operates shipyards at the following locations: Lemwerder, Berne, Bremen-Aumund, Schacht-Audorf, Wolgast, Hamburg and the repair locations Wilhelmshaven and Hamburg.

Lloyd Werft operates a shipyard in Bremerhaven which is mostly used for repair work, but was most recently also used for the construction and remodelling of yachts, cruise ships, merchant ships and coastguard vessels. In 2021 Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven completed the 140 metre yacht “Solaris”. The shipyard has a surface of over 260,000 m² in the overseas port of Bremerhaven and comprises two dry docks and one floating dock, which can take in ships of a length of more than 300 m and up to 11 m of draught.

Lloyd Werft Bremerhaven currently does not carry out any naval business activities so that there are no overlaps in this area despite corresponding activities by the Lürssen and Rönner groups. The structure of the concentration does not give reason to expect the competition situation in the naval sector to change significantly as a result.