| Type | state enterprise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Shipbuilding, Defence |
| Predecessor | Bazán IZAR (2000-2005) |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Employees | 5,632 (2007) |
| Website | www.navantia.es |
Navantia, formerly Bazán or IZAR, is a Spanish shipbuilding firm, which offers its services to both military and civil sector. It is the fifth largest shipbuilder in Europe, and the ninth largest in the world with shipyards all over Spain.
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Navantia's career started in 1730 with the creation of the historic military arsenals of Ferrol, Cartagena and San Fernando, whose shipyards were designed to build and repair ships of the Spanish Navy.
In 1908 these shipyards became part of the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval (also known as La Naval) who also owned the civil shipyards of Matagorda and Sestao, subsequently incorporated into Astilleros Españoles S.A. (AESA).
After the Spanish Civil War, the state took care of the military arsenals and in 1947 founded Empresa Nacional Bazán, who was born as a shipbuilding company that relied on foreign technology. Subsequently, Bazan began developing its own draft ships.
IZAR (between 2000 and 2005) was founded in December 2000 following the merger of Astilleros Españoles S.A. (AESA) and Empresa Nacional Bazán.
In 2005 IZAR was taken over by the newly created company Navantia.
The proposal by IZAR's owners, the state holding company SEPI, called for the separation of the company's military construction unit, its most profitable venture, from the civilian operation, which would be partially privatised. Izar had been in crisis since European Union authorities demanded in May 2004 that it repay 300 million euros (362 million dollars) of EU aid that Brussels regarded as having breached competition rules.
However, the company began to emerge from the crisis through numerous military and civilian contracts from various customers around the world.