Germany's ThyssenKrupp will seek to complete its exit from civilian shipbuilding by selling remaining activities to Abu Dhabi MAR, weekly Der Spiegel reported in a story to be published on Monday.

In pre-release abstracts of the article, Der Spiegel also said it was an open question whether the company could also seek to sell its naval construction business.

A spokeswoman for ThyssenKrupp on Saturday said talks on a range of issues were continuing with Abu Dhabi MAR but declined to comment on what she described as "speculation" by the Spiegel story.

A downturn in shipbuilding in the economic slump has focused German companies away from areas such as container ships and onto niche markets such as megayachts and cruise ships.

ThyssenKrupp still builds luxury yachts at Hamburg shipyard Blohm + Voss and operates repair and maintenance units for civilian ships.

Among its longer-running involvement with the Abu Dhabi firm, ThyssenKrupp has already picked the firm as the preferred bidder to buy a majority stake in its indebted Greek shipbuilding unit Hellenic shipyards (HSY) where it has said a decision may be made in February/March.-Reuters