ESSEN, Germany, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG has denied industry speculation of a joint venture or merger by its marine systems division and DCNS of France.
"ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems is not planning a joint venture with the French shipyards group DCNS, nor are there any plans for a merger or other partnership or alliance with the French shipyards," the company said. "No talks on this are currently being held by the companies and no talks are planned."
It said that while there have been repeated attempts to form an alliance between the two, ThyssenKrupp "currently sees no prospects of a merger or closer alliance between the two shipyards groups; this applies both to the submarine area and to naval surface vessels."
"This does not affect the collaboration in the field of naval technology between Atlas Elektronik -- a joint venture of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and EADS -- and DCNS in relation to the development and delivery of torpedoes," it said.
ThyssenKrupp is a diversified industrial group with 180,000 employees in more than 80 countries.
