Aker Yards sells stake in merchant vessels unit

Aker Yards sells stake in merchant vessels unit Aker Yards ASA has agreed to sell 70 percent of its Aker Yards Ukraine Holding AS subsidiary to Russian state controlled investment company FLC West for 291.9 million euros ($455 million).
   “It is expected that the new jointly owned unit will deliver modern vessels to meet the growing demand by Russian companies in hydrocarbons exploration, production and transportation for specialized ships,” Aker Yards said in a statement.
   Aker Yards Ukraine Holding is part of the Norwegian shipbuilder’s merchant vessels division, which has shipyards in Flor', Norway, Nikolaev in Ukraine (100 percent owned by Aker Yards Ukraine Holding), and in Wismar and Warnem'nde in Germany.
   As part of the deal, which is subject to approval from relevant authorities, Aker Yards will transfer its 100 percent ownership of the yards in Wismar and Warnem'nde to Aker Yards Ukraine Holding. The Flor' shipyard in Norway is not influenced by the sale.
   Aker Yards Ukraine Holding will continue to be based in Norway with headquarters in Oslo, and the company will later be renamed. Tom Einertsen, president of the merchant vessels division, will become chief executive officer of the company.
   Aker Yards said the sale, expected to be completed in the summer, will reduce its annual revenue by about 6 billion Norwegian Krone ($1.15 billion) and that its net gain from the transaction compared to book value will be about NKr 1.2 billion ($231.2 million).
   Luxembourg-based FLC West, with $1.5 billion in leasing portfolio, is 50 percent owned by FLC with the other half owned by the private Cyprus investment company Almiar Investment Ltd., which in turn is owned by FLC private shareholders.
   In a separate development, the EU Commission has granted South Korea’s STX Corp. an exemption from the suspension of voting rights attached to its shares in Aker Yards, due to the pending merger control approval, allowing STX to vote for its shares at the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held April 1 provided that it exercises the voting rights for the purpose of seeking to secure that the existing members of the board remains as such. Aker shareholder Havyard Invest AS called for the meeting to propose to elect a new board of directors.