ST3 Offshore factory has been sold

On Monday, March 20, the sixth oral tender for the purchase of ST3 Offshore was held at the Szczecin-Center District Court in Szczecin. The factory, which went bankrupt several years ago, employed nearly 500 people. The bid submitted by Vestas was selected.

The auction resulted in a bid of PLN 170,500,002, which was the highest price offered, so the trustee nailed it down. Thus, the offer submitted by RPGZ XXVIII sp. z o.o., based in Warsaw, i.e. a special purpose vehicle of Vestas (Danish manufacturer, seller, installer and servicer of wind turbines – ed.), was selected,” informed ST3 Offshore’s trustee, legal counsel Natalia Leszczynska.

According to Głos Szczeciński, sale by order of the court was necessary because the two companies that took part in the tender (the latter, without giving reasons, did not come up for the bidding) offered a similar price, differing by PLN 2.

ST3 Offshore is a manufacturer of steel foundations for offshore wind turbines. The company is a joint venture between Mars FIZ and ST3 Holding GmbH. MARS FIZ, which owns 80 per cent of the shares, is managed by MS Investment Fund Society, which is part of the state-owned Polish Armaments Group. Mars bought a stake in ST3 in 2017. The remaining 20 per cent was held by ST3 Holding GmbH, a company owned by Munich-based VTC Group.

In January 2020, ST3 Offshore’s board of directors decided to apply to the court to discontinue restructuring proceedings and declare bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was declared on March 31, 2020. Earlier, in February last year, the then-Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Inland Navigation presented a concept for the continued operation of ST3 Offshore. The idea was based on cooperation with the Gryfia Ship Repair Yard and the Szczecin Ship Recycling Facility.