Group Davie, the privately-owned Canadian shipbuilder, has concluded the acquisition of the assets of Helsinki Shipyard Oy.

The Finnish shipyard will operate as a separate legal and operating entity from Group Davie, which is part of the Inocea Group, but the business headquarters will remain in Québec. Group Davie expects to create an international centre of excellence for Arctic vessel shipbuilding following the conclusion of the deal. Davie is a partner in the National Shipbuilding Strategy, under which it is expected to produce a new fleet of polar icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard and two hybrid ferries for Transport Canada. 

While the terms of transaction are confidential, the regional Québec government in Canada contributed EUR77 million (US$82.7 million) of financing towards the deal. This contribution consists of an equity investment of EUR30 million and a loan of EUR47 million. A significant proportion of the funds will go to ensuring the shipyard has working capital while it gets up and running and secures new business.

The Helsinki yard, a pioneer in Finnish shipbuilding, has passed through many hands over the decades, from Wartsila Marine to Masa-Yards, the Kvaerner Group, Aker Finnyards and South Korean-owned STX Europe, which formed the Arctech Shipyard Helsinki joint venture with United Shipbuilding Corporation in 2011. The Russian state-owned shipbuilding organisation obtained 100% control of the yard at the end of 2014. The assets of the Finnish yard, formerly known as Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, were transferred to Helsinki Shipyard and purchased in May 2019 by Algador Holdings, a Cyprus-registered company headed by two Russian businessmen.