Fincantieri chosen as preferred bidder for S. Korea's STX French unit

A South Korean court handling the bankruptcy of STX Offshore and Shipbuilding Co. said Tuesday that Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri had been named preferred bidder for STX's profitable French unit.

"The court reached the decision this afternoon," Judge Choi Ung-Young, who acts as a spokesman for the Seoul Central District Insolvency Court, told AFP.

He said Fincantieri would now conduct field research on the shipyard and agree a price with the South Korean firm before signing a deal for a 66.6-percent stake.

Fincantieri, Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group and French state-controlled naval shipbuilder DCNS had initially expressed interest in acquiring STX France.

But the Italian shipbuilding giant was the sole bidder to submit a binding proposal last month.

Fincantieri later issued a brief statement confirming it had "been selected as the exclusive buyer" of a two-thirds stake in STX France.

STX in 2008 bought a two-thirds stake in the huge shipyard in the western French port of Saint-Nazaire, later renamed STX France.

It is currently the company's only profitable unit.

The French state holds the remaining stake and is extremely concerned about the future of the shipyard, a major local employer with a healthy order book for cruise liners and also military ships.

Fincantieri competes in the same sector of shipbuilding, and French trade unions on Tuesday expressed concern about any move to "eliminate duplicate positions" in the companies' workforces.

STX Offshore's creditors last month narrowly approved a debt restructuring plan, avoiding the imminent liquidation of what was once South Korea's fourth largest shipbuilder.