Romanian state moves to terminate agreement with Damen on Mangalia shipyard

The Board of Directors of Romania’s 2 Mai Mangalia Shipyard (2MMS) has scheduled an extraordinary general shareholders meeting (EGSM) on November 28, aiming to terminate its association with Dutch partner Damen Holding in the ailing shipyard Damen Shipyards Mangalia, Ziarul Financiar reported.

State-owned 2MM is the majority owner of Damen Shipyards Mangalia (51%), managed by Damen group (49%) under a contract negotiated by the Romanian government at the time the Dutch company took over the majority stake in the shipyard from Korean group Daewoo. In exchange for a 2% stake, Damen got the management of the shipyard, but the contract is breaching new legislation passed by Romania in the meantime.

On the agenda of the EGSM meeting is the proposed appointment of Doru Jianu as general director, who would be tasked with executing the notice of termination of the 2MMS-Damen contract. Shareholders will also consider December 19 as the official record date to establish who will be affected by decisions made at the EGM.

Damen Holding, which acquired a 49% stake in the Mangalia shipyard in 2018, initiated insolvency proceedings for the site in June, citing debts of RON 1 billion (EUR 200 million) against assets of RON 1.26 billion, as recorded in recent data provided by the insolvency house CITR.

Damen, which took over the stake from Daewoo and subsequently transferred 2% to the Romanian state, enabled the Ministry of Economy to secure a 51% controlling interest.

Once regarded as a strategic industrial site, the Mangalia shipyard reported losses of RON 582 million (EUR 120 million) between 2018 and 2022 after a profitable 2017 with revenues of RON 988 million (EUR 200 million) and RON 158 million in profit.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/DanielStoenciu)