Spain’s state-owned shipbuilder has reached a deal to buy Harland & Wolff, the Belfast shipyard best known for the Titanic.

Navantia had been in exclusive negotiations since October after Harland & Wolff’s holding corporation fell into administration.

All jobs at the firm are expected to be saved in the deal, which also includes Harland & Wolff’s facilities in Scotland and England.

The UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the deal was “excellent for jobs” and “excellent for national safety”.

Reynolds said that the deal secures all four Harland & Wolff yards across the UK and guarantees jobs for “years not months in all four of those yards”.

He added that the deal was “a major vote of confidence in the UK from Navantia”.

Asked whether the government had sweetened the deal for Navantia by changing the terms of a agreement to deliver three Royal Navy back ships, Reynolds said there had been a “minor revision” to the agreement to include “more back” from the government.

The agreement is to be presented as early fruits of the government’s post Brexit “reset”.

Navantia, which is 100% owned by Spain’s government, has been a significant recipient of capital from the European percentage as part of the European Defence fund.

Joining the fund is a feasible objective for the UK-EU safety reset, set to be discussed at a summit early in the recent year.

The Spanish economy minister responsible for its state-owned businesses, Carlos Cuerpo, met with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in London last month.

Navantia already has a business connection with Harland & Wolff. It is the main contractor on a assignment to construct three back ships for the Royal Navy, with Harland & Wolff acting as UK subcontractor.

The corporation employs a core staff of about 1,200 in Belfast, Appledore in England and Methil and Arnish in Scotland.

Navantia’s main shipyard is at Cadiz in southern Spain.

It employs more than 4,000 people and has an annual turnover of about €1.3bn (£835m).

For some people, a takeover by Spain’s national shipbuilder will represent another example of the UK’s industrial decline.

For the Harland & Wolff workforce, it is probably the best feasible outcome.

In 2019, the corporation’s Norwegian owner decided the shipyard didn’t have a upcoming and it was placed into administration.

It was then bought by a UK corporation which had aspiration but lacked money and expertise.

Now it is heading into the ownership of an established shipbuilder which has the financial backing of the Spanish state.

Harland & Wolff was founded in 1861 by Yorkshireman Edward Harland and his German business associate, Gustav Wolff.

By the early 20th Century, Harland & Wolff dominated global shipbuilding and had become the most prolific builder of ocean liners in the globe.

However, in the period since globe War Two it has lurched from crisis to crisis and was under UK state control from 1977 to 1989.

In 2019, its then Norwegian owners withdrew financial back and the business fell into insolvency, having not built a ship in a creation.

It was bought by Infrastrata, a tiny London-based vigor firm which did not have significant encounter in marine engineering.

Infrastrata later changed its name to Harland & Wolff and in 2022 won the Royal Navy agreement as part of a consortium led by Navantia.

However, financial losses mounted as it scaled up its operations and it became increasingly reliant on high-earnings borrowings from a specialist US lender, Riverstone.

The corporation sought a £200m government financing guarantee to refinance its borrowings but that was rejected for being too risky for taxpayers.

Its holding corporation entered administration in September and restructuring specialist Russell Downs was appointed to run the business and discover a recent owner.