Harland & Wolff could be bought out by Spain's state-owned shipbuilder, potentially saving jobs in Scotland.
The Belfast-based firm, which built the Titanic, went into administration last month, raising fears for the future of its yards at Methil in Fife and Arnish on the Isle of Lewis.
According to the Telegraph though Navantia, the shipbuilding company owned by the Spanish government is in exclusive talks about a takeover.
It employs more than 4,000 and has an annual turnover of about €1.3bn (£835m).
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The Herald reported earlier this month that the owner of Mallaig Boat Yard felt he had been forced out when Harland & Wolff took over the yard in the village.
Former chief executive John Wood responded in an exclusive interview that the yard was acquired as part of a plan by Harland & Wolff to redevelop Mallaig as part of a larger Scottish strategy to maintain fish farm vessels, larger boats and commercial trawlers.
He said: "In addition Mallaig was intended to be one of our service support centres for dealing with proposed new build ferries for CalMac.
"Our offering would have been to build and offer through-life support.
"The entire Scottish strategy for H&W was approved by the board initially in 2023, which included several sites including Mallaig.
"Whilst it is unfortunate that the H&W plan has not materialised with government doing a U-turn on a guarantee, given the waterside facility I am sure it will return to being a prosperous repair yard in the future."
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