Posted on September 21, 2026
By Peter Bowe, DredgeWire
Outcome Could Affect $1 Billion EU Military Contract Involving Rheinmetall
On September 18, Damen Holding filed a court challenge to the new procedure for selling its bankrupt Romanian shipyard. Damen is seeking to overturn a September 7 Constanța Tribunal ruling that permits the auction price to fall from the €184 million valuation to 75% and ultimately 50% if buyers do not emerge.
Damen is both the 49% shareholder and largest creditor of Damen Shipyards Mangalia. Together with other Damen companies, it reportedly holds about 85% of the claims against the shipyard. Its 19-page challenge argues that the court relied upon a Romanian legal provision that had subsequently been amended and asks that the accelerated procedure be annulled.
Damen Shipyards Mangalia entered insolvency on June 19, 2024, and subsequently entered bankruptcy. After three auctions failed to attract bidders, creditors approved offering the shipyard for sale through six monthly auctions at an initial price of €184 million.
The first auction under the revised procedure remains scheduled for October 1 at €184 million. But the rules have changed. If no bidder emerges, the starting price can subsequently fall to 75% and then 50% of the valuation, with shorter intervals between auctions.
“We will go through 100%, 75% and 50% of the asset’s market value until we identify a buyer,” said Paul Dieter Cîrlănaru, CEO of CITR, the shipyard’s liquidator.
If the October auction fails, subsequent rounds at reduced prices “can be organized within a short period of time, meaning one or two weeks between rounds, and this could clearly accelerate the process,” Cîrlănaru said.
Damen’s court challenge could delay that process and the selection of a new investor.
Under the new approach, the shipyard would be sold as a whole. The sale includes 181,500 square meters of land, three dry docks, almost 1600 linear meters of quayside, and an assembly hall of more than 10,500 square meters.
The outcome has taken on added importance because of the Romanian government’s €920 million agreement with German defense giant Rheinmetall to build four military vessels at Mangalia.
The project is to be financed through the European Union’s SAFE defense program and completed by 2030. Some fear that delays in finding a new investor for Mangalia could jeopardize the military vessel program and the future of the shipyard.
Rheinmetall has not participated in any of the shipyard auctions to date.
Romania’s Ministry of Economy controls the majority interest in the shipyard, while Damen, as the 49% shareholder and dominant creditor, exercises substantial influence through the Creditors’ Meeting.
The shipyard’s financial position continues to deteriorate. Its debts have increased by another 193.4 million lei, on top of nearly 2 billion lei in liabilities previously accepted by CITR. Newly recorded secured claims total another 145 million lei, potentially reducing recoveries for unsecured creditors in a sale.
Damen, as the largest creditor, is therefore one of the parties with the greatest financial stake in both the sale price and the procedure ultimately used to find a buyer.
Based in part on reporting by Informat.ro
