China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), two state-run shipbuilding conglomerates, have both released notices through their listed platforms, officially denying that they are planning a merger.
Last week, Bloomberg quoted an unnamed source saying China’s State Council has given preliminary approval to merge the two giant shipbuilders.
However, both CSSC and CSIC clarified publicly that they haven’t received any notice from the government regarding the merger and they haven’t started any negotiations on the merger.
The merger speculation between CSSC and CSIC first emerged in 2015. The pair were actually one group through to 1999 when they were split in two with the Yangtze river serving as the geographical marker between the two.
