Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri will take majority control over the French shipyard STX under an agreement thrashed out between the Italian and French governments to end a diplomatic row, French government sources said Wednesday.

Fincantieri will buy 50 percent of the shipyard in the western French port of Saint Nazaire, the sources said, while the French state will lend it another 1.0-percent stake for 12 years which can be retracted if it fails to keep promises made to the government.