ThyssenKrupp agrees sale of Swedish submarine shipyard to Saab

BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's ThyssenKrupp said late on Sunday it had agreed to sell its submarine shipyard in the south of Sweden to Swedish defence firm Saab for 340 million Swedish crowns (29.63 million pounds).

Saab had confirmed on Thursday it was nearing an agreement after business daily Dagens Industri reported that it might soon announce such a deal, with a price tag well below 1 billion Swedish crowns.

Saab and ThyssenKrupp announced in April they were in talks on the sale of the unit after the German group failed to reach a deal with Sweden for a new generation of submarines.

"The acquisition is in line with Saab's ambitions to increase its capacity within the marine area and strengthen the company's position as a full supplier of military systems," Saab said in a statement.

The transaction is not expected to have a significant impact on 2014 results, the Swedish company added, noting that ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems will be integrated within Saab's Security and Defense Solutions division.

Sweden had been seeking ways to share development costs with other potential buyers of its A-26 submarine but failed to agree on commercial terms with ThyssenKrupp, which also builds submarines in a separate business in Germany.

Sweden's government asked Saab earlier this year to come up with a strategy to support Swedish submarine naval forces.

Defence analysts saw the move as opening the door for the Swedish company to build submarines instead.

ThyssenKrupp Marine employs around 1,000 staff in Sweden, mainly in the southern Swedish cities of Malmo and Karlskrona. The Marine Systems unit, which also makes naval ships, posted sales of 1.33 billion euros last year.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by Andreas Cremer and Mia Shanley; Editing by Paul Simao)