BAE poised to pull out of Devonport - report |
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Published
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Sun, 29 Apr 2007 15:55
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LONDON (Thomson Financial) - BAE Systems, Britain's largest defence contractor, is likely to walk away from the bidding for the Devonport submarine yard near Plymouth ahead of this week's deadline to submit final offers, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing industry sources.The newspaper said it is understood that the company held talks with rival bidder Babcock International about making a joint offer for the yard, which refits and refuels Britain's nuclear submarine fleet. But those talks foundered in the middle of last week after both sides failed to reach agreement.A joint offer would have combined BAE's submarine construction yard at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria with Babcock's operations of the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland and secured the two companies a leading position in the race to control Britain's submarine industry, the Sunday Telegraph added.The lack of a partner is believed to be the main reason for BAE weighing up its options this weekend, the newspaper also said. The paper added that it is believed that the company has been under pressure to find a partner from the Ministry of Defence, which has made clear it does not want one company dominating the industry.First-round offers valued the yard at around 350 mln stg, with Babcock submitting the highest bid. Whoever buys DML will be in a strong position to win the lion's share of work on Britain's planned new fleet of submarines. The 25 bln stg programme will extend over a period of 20 years.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comnh/rwCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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BAE, Carlyle launch separate bids for UK's Plymouth dockyard - report 