L 301/8 Official Journal of the European Communities 24.11.1999 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 17 March 1999 on the measures, implemented and proposed, by the Federal State of Bremen, Germany, in favour of Liirssen Maritime Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG (notified under document number C(1999) 756) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (1999/763/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to the provisions cited above (') and having regard to those comments, Whereas: I. PROCEDURE By way of an article in Handelsblatt on 9 September 1997, the Commission was informed that the Land Bremen, Germany, had implemented the financial measures with which this Decision is concerned, in favour of Liirssen Maritime Beteili- gungen GmbH & Co. KG. The Commission requested informa- tion on the measures in its letter dated 15 September 1997, and Germany supplied the information by letter dated 24 October 1997. By letter dated 30 March 1998, the Commission informed Germany of its decision to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 93(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of those measures. Germany submitted its comments by a letter dated 19 May 1998. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (). The Commission invited interested parties to submit their comments on the measures. The Commission has received comments from interested parties. It has forwarded them to Germany, which was given () O] C 252, 11.8.1998, p. 4. () See footnote 1. the opportunity to react; its comments were received by letter dated 21 October 1998. II. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE MEASURES The Bremen Vulkan Verbund AG, the maritime industrial holding with subsidiaries mainly in the shipbuilding but also the machine-building and electronic equipment sectors based in the Federal State of Bremen (hereinafter referred to as ‘BVV’) fell into acute financial difficulties in late 1995. On 1 May 1996 the responsible Court initiated bankruptcy proceedings under the German Konkursordnung. BVV held a 100 % share in BVM Beteiligungs GmbH, which itself was the sole share- holder of Bremer Vulkan Marine Schiffbau GmbH (hereinafter referred to as ‘BVM), a small engineering company active in acquiring orders for the construction of naval vessels. It was founded mainly to participate in the tendering procedure for the German ‘F 124’ frigate programme, entailing a volume up to DEM 3 billion in cooperation with Preussag and Thyssen. This company was not subject to bankruptcy proceedings in connection with the breakup of the group. Given the prospects of BVM for engagement in the construc- tion of the new frigates, the Liirssen Maritime Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG (hereinafter referred to as ‘LMB’) decided to acquire the company's shares. LMB is the holding company for Friedrich Liirssen Werft GmbH (hereinafter referred to as ‘Liirs- sen’), a shipyard located in the north of Bremen. Liirssen is a medium-sized shipyard, primarily active in naval shipbuilding, specialising in smaller naval vessels (minesweepers, combat boats and multipurpose boats) and occasionally in the construction of large yachts and commercial passenger ships. Between 1988 and 1998 [..] (*) of the turnover of Liirssen came from naval shipbuilding. (*) Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential infor- mation is not disclosed; those parts are enclosed in square brackets and marked with an asterisk.