Aker Yards EGM to test waters for company split

By Wojciech Moskwa

OSLO, March 31 (Reuters) - A meeting of shareholders in Norway's Aker Yards (AKY.OL: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday promises to test the waters for interest in splitting up Europe's biggest shipbuilder. Called by 10-percent stake owner Havyard Invest, the extraordinary general meeting is set to vote on the makeup of the board and may give more say to shareholders mulling a split of Aker Yards into a cruise ship maker and a firm for specialised offshore vessels.

Analysts say such a split would probably be value-accretive but may be unpopular with some European governments concerned that the high-end cruise ship industry -- in which Europeans are still leaders -- may be taken over by fast-growing Asian yards.

Analysts say South Korean STX Shipbuilding (067250.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), Aker Yard's biggest shareholder with 39.2 percent, may be interested in taking over the cruise and ferries division, while Havyard is eyeing the specialised and offshore vessel operations.

"It's not clear what will happen at this EGM but one thing is becoming increasingly clear -- a split will probably be the outcome for Aker Yards down the road," said Arne Egil Roenning, analyst at brokerage Fondsfinans.

After the stock exchange closed on Monday, Havyard and its owner Per Saevik proposed to expand the Aker Yards board by two and suggested that acting Chief Executive and Chairman Svein Sivertsen should become CEO full time and step down as chairman.

Havyard and Saevik proposed dropping Sivertsen and Martinus Brandal, who is former CEO of Aker Kvaerner AKVER.OL and now a top executive at Aker ASA (AKER.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), from the board and electing four new members, which would enlarge it by two to 10 in total.

They said Sivertsen's dual role did not comply with good corporate governance but said: "We hope that Svein Sivertsen will take on the job of leading the company in the future."

Aker Yards shares ended up 3.2 percent at 67.40 crowns, outpacing a 0.2 percent rise in Oslo's benchmark index .