Persistent speculation about a Franco-German shipyard alliance has sparked a formal denial from ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems that any talks are underway.

There have been reports that the ThyssenKrupp yards are to enter a naval shipbuilding focussed alliance with France’s DCNS.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel are alleged to have backed a merger to preserve naval shipbuilding capacity at a time of defence cuts.

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