Damen Holding challenges the procedure for selling the Mangalia shipyard / Unionists warn of further delays

Damen Holding BV, the principal creditor and 49% shareholder of Damen Shipyards Mangalia, is challenging in court the modification of the shipyard’s sale procedure. The appeal targets the decision issued by the Constanța Tribunal on September 7, which allows the starting price to be successively reduced from €184 million to 75%, and then to 50%, if no bidders come forward.

Under the new procedure, an auction is scheduled for October 1, at a value of €184 million. If it fails, the following stages could have a reduced price and shorter intervals between procedures.

In a 19-page challenge, Damen Holding argues that the court applied a legal provision that had since been amended and is seeking the annulment of the accelerated procedure. The Dutch company is the shipyard’s principal creditor, holding, together with group companies, approximately 85% of the claims.

Damen Shipyards Mangalia entered insolvency on June 19, 2024, and subsequently bankruptcy proceedings. After three auctions drew no bidders, the creditors approved putting the shipyard up for sale in six monthly stages, at a constant initial price of €184 million.

Trade union leader Laurențiu Gobeajă warns that the appeal could delay the resumption of production and the takeover by a new investor. Unionists fear that this could jeopardize the construction of military vessels financed through the SAFE program and even the shipyard’s future.