EU Launches New Kvaerner Shipyard Aid Probe

The European Commission is expected to start a probe into state aid to a German subsidiary of Anglo-Norwegian engineering and shipbuilding group Kvaerner Plc. The Commission suspects that the company may have received excessive subsidies of around $60.06 million to cover future losses during the restructuring of its Kvaerner Warnow (KWW) shipyard in eastern Germany. Last July, the Commission said KWW must repay $40.7 million in restructuring aid because it broke a production ceiling set as a condition of approving restructuring aid linked to the yard's privatization in 1992.