The bankruptcy manager of Romanian shipyard Mangalia will try to sell the shipyard’s assets on July 29 at the same price asked in the first attempt (EUR 184 million), at the request of the creditors, among which the largest is the company’s minority shareholder and former manager Damen. The prospective buyers Rheinmetall and MSC abstained in the first round on June 27. 

Rheinmetall's recent expansion through its acquisition of naval shipbuilder NVL has increased its presence in the European naval construction sector, including in Romania, where the company has already secured a major military shipbuilding contract. The Mangalia shipyard auction is seen as an important step in determining whether Rheinmetall will also establish production capacity in the country.

By the time of the second auction, the shipyard will have no employees after the last 1,011 of them will see their contracts terminated on July 15. The fate of the Romanian shipyard, once managed by Damen, is being impacted in various ways by the country’s military Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) procurement contracts – none of them awarded to the Dutch group that also operates another shipyard in Romania (at Galati) where it produces a variety of vessels including OPVs for other countries.

“The creditors have set a starting price, and I am holding the auction at that price," explained Paul Dieter Cîrlănaru, general manager of CITR, the company that manages the shipyard, a few days before the end of the first auction period, according to News.ro.

The EUR 184 million going concern price asked for the shipyard’s assets is some EUR 100 million above the liquidation price – which the Romanian state would reportedly be ready to accept without auction as part of a larger deal with Rheinmetall that includes the construction of OPVs worth EUR 920 million (not including VAT) under the EU-backed SAFE scheme. While the EUR 920 million contract was awarded already, keeping the construction of the ships on Romanian territory depends on the recovery at Mangalia shipyard. Rheinmetall has constructed similar OPVs in a private shipyard in Bulgaria, at Varna. The German company says it would need only 10%-15% of the capacity of Mangalia shipyard to complete the EUR 920 million contract.

This is only the second of the six auctions at the same going concern price decided by the shipyard’s creditors on May 26. The assets are sold as part of a single deal, with no possibility to bid for only part of them and a 10% (EUR 18.4 million) guarantee required from bidders. Among the creditors that claim almost RON 2 billion (EUR 380 million) from Mangalia shipyard, Damen group holds the majority directly and indirectly. 

The shipyard’s main creditor and the prospective buyer have both competed for the major military OPV procurement contract, with Damen losing the contract for the second time against Rheinmetall, after years ago Romania preferred France’s Naval Group (in a deal never completed). In the meantime, Romania contracted last December and already received another military OPV, from Turkish defence contractor ASFAT, for EUR 233 million (not including VAT, training included): the Turkish Navy’s Hisar-class OPV. 

The major OPV contract, however, was awarded to Rheinmetall under the EU-backed SAFE scheme: two OPVs and two diver support vessels for a price of EUR 920 million (not including VAT), upped from EUR 757 million reportedly for supporting the investments at Mangalia shipyards.

Rheinmetall's MMPV 90 (Multipurpose Modular Patrol Vessel) model made by NVL (Naval Vessels Lürssen, part of the Rheinmetall group since March 2026) was preferred to Damen’s offer (OPV 2600), dismissed as “not meeting the programme's technical requirements.” Rheinmetall already constructed two similar OPVs, with different configurations, for Bulgaria at the MTG Dolphin Shipyard in Varna.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: CITR)