France has offered Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri’s a one-month extension to its planned acquisition of French rival Chantiers de l’Atlantique, the finance ministry said in a statement sent to Reuters on Wednesday, December 30.
The agreement between France and Fincantieri was due to expire on Thursday, after repeated deadline extensions following competition concerns over the merger of two global leaders and the deal has yet to receive European antitrust approval.
The cruise industry has been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the French ministry stated it had offered the extension to allow time for fuller assessment of the impact.
“It was decided to extend the purchase and sale contract by one month again in order to allow the (European) Commission to finalise its investigation and Fincantieri to answer the Commission’s final questions,” the ministry said in the statement.
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