Post by ferryfast admin on Oct 23, 2007 17:00:35 GMT -5
STX Group Acquires Aker Yards Stake for $800 Million
By Kyunghee Park and Seonjin Cha
www.bloomberg.com/
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- STX Group, parent of the first South Korean shipyard in China, paid $800 million to become the biggest shareholder in Norway's Aker Yards ASA, moving into cruise liners as competition increases with Chinese builders.
New stock worth $300 million will be sold and $500 million will be borrowed to buy 39.2 percent of Europe's biggest shipbuilder, STX Shipbuilding Co. and STX Engine Co. said in filings today. The units paid 97 kroner ($18) apiece for the shares, the Norweign company said in a statement today, 38 percent more than yesterday's closing price of 70.50 kroner.
The stake in Oslo-based Aker Yards would enable the fifth- biggest South Korean shipyard to start building cruise liners, which are more profitable than mid-sized containers and chemical carriers. Bigger rivals Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. are also venturing into liners as Chinese yards aim to double production by 2015 to overtake South Korea as the world's biggest shipbuilding nation.
``This is definitely part of STX Shipbuilding's efforts to diversify the type of vessels it builds,'' said Sung Ki Jong, a Seoul-based analyst at Daewoo Securities Co. with a ``buy'' rating on the shipbuilding industry. ``With the stake, it will allow them to take the first step into making cruise ships.''
Shares Gain
Aker Yard climbed 18 percent, the biggest gain since the shares debuted in June 2004. They rose to 83.25 kronor as of 9:25 a.m. in Oslo.
STX Shipbuilding shares climbed by their 15 percent daily limit to 68,000 won in Seoul, the biggest gain in two months. The stock has more than quadrupled this year, making it the fourth- best performer among 200 top companies trading on South Korea's Kospi index. STX Engine, which makes marine engines, advanced 10 percent to 76,000.
Orders for cruise liners reach $13 billion annually, accounting for more than 12 percent of the global ship market, according to Samsung Heavy. A total of $124.4 billion was invested in new vessels last year, according to London-based Clarkson Plc, the world's biggest shipbroker.
STX Group's purchase is the biggest overseas acquisition by a South Korean shipyard. The group has been expanding its businesses by acquiring domestic companies, including STX Shipbuilding in 2001 and STX Pan Ocean Co. in 2004. The stake in Aker would make it the biggest shareholder in Aker, leapfrogging UBS AG, BNP Paribas SA and Aker Yards itself, which have a combined 19.9 percent stake, according to the company's Web site.
The Norwegian company on Aug. 25 said profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization will be 900 million kroner ($165 million) this year, from an earlier forecast of as much as 1.1 billion kroner. It also set aside 500 million kroner partly for rising compensation costs.
Increased costs for on-board facilities such as swimming pools will reduce full-year profit at its ferry unit in Finland, the company said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Seonjin Cha in Seoul at scha2@bloomberg.net ; Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net .
Last Updated: October 23, 2007 03:58 EDT
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Ownership of Turku, Rauma, and Helsinki shipyards falls into new hands
Helsingin Sanomat-Finland
www.hs.fi/
South Korean STX Shipbuilding Co. has purchased a nearly 40 per cent stake in the Norwegian shipbuilding group Aker Yards.
In Finland Aker Yards owns the Turku, Rauma, and Helsinki shipyards.
The Aker Yards Finland President and CEO Yrjö Julin was reticent about the transaction when interviewed on Tuesday by the Finnish economic daily Taloussanomat.
"I was told about the deal in the early hours. I will refrain from further commenting until we have held a board meeting later in the morning", Julin said. Juha Heikinheimo, president of the Aker Yards Cruise and Ferries business area, was also reluctant to comment on the deal or its possible repercussions in Finland.
The South Korean company announced it would pursue quick growth and branching out in Europe. The purchase price of 44.56 million Aker Yards shares was in the region of EUR 560 million.
STX Shipbuilding Co. is the world's seventh-largest shipyard owner. www.stxship.co.kr/english/stx/represe/greet.asp
Aker Yards www.akeryards.com/ employs about 3,800 people in Finland. If the subcontractor network is taken into account, the whole shipbuilding industry in Finland employs about 20,000.
Aker Yards has a total of 18 shipyards in eight countries, employing in excess of 20,000 people. The Finnish yards are part of Aker's cruise liner and car ferry group, as are the French shipyards in Saint Nazaire and Lorient.