China Merchants Offshore Engineering Investment, a fully owned subsidiary of China Merchants Group, has completed the takeover of 69.77% equity interest in AVIC Weihai Shipyard from AVIC International Holdings.
The remaining 30.23% equity interest of AVIC Weihai is held by Weihai government.
AVIC International said earlier that AVIC Weihai Shipyard continues to suffer losses and has brought tremendous pressure on the operations of the group.
Sources close to the matter told Splash that AVIC International will sell another shipyard, AVIC Dingheng, to China Merchants soon and quit the shipbuilding business.
China Merchants has been restructuring its shipyard assets having integrated two ex-Sinotrans yards, Jinling Shipyard and Jiangdong Shipyard, into China Merchants Heavy Industry earlier this year. Last year, China Merchants also acquired Zhejiang Eastern Shipyard and integrated the yard into Yiu Lian Dockyard. It is now the fourth largest shipbuilding group in China following CSSC, CSIC, and Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry.
