S.Korea STX buys $ 800 mln stake in Aker Yards

SEOUL, Oct 23 (Reuters) South Korea's STX Shipbuilding Co said on Tuesday it had bought a 39.2 percent stake in Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards ASA for 0 million to boost its European business, sending STX shares up 8.6 percent.

The stake purchase underlined STX Shipbuilding's commitment to fast expansion and would bolster its networks in Europe, said Song Jae-hak, an analyst at Woori Investment&Securities.

STX Shipbuilding, competing with bigger rivals such as Hyundai Heavy Industries Co and Daewoo Shipbuilding, has been benefiting from booming orders of bulk carriers from Europe.

It also is flush with cash after a 590 billion won (3.5 million) public offering of affiliate shipping firm STX Pan Ocean last month in Seoul.

STX said in a filing with the Korea Exchange that it had bought 44,565,360 shares in Aker for 0 million in after-hours trade, which represented .95 per share, or about a 38 percent premium to Aker's Monday closing price of 70.50 crowns according to Reuters calculations.

Shares in STX Shipbuilding were up 5.7 percent to 62,600 won by 0116 GMT, coming off an initial high of 64,300 won, against the wider market's 0.7 percent gain.

Aker builds cruise, ferry and offshore and specialised vessels. In August, the Norwegian shipbuilder posted bigger than expected losses from its core operations in the second quarter of this year, weighed by cost overruns at its ferry and cruise ship yard in Finland.

STX added that the stake purchase was financed through borrowing and new share offerings by its affiliate companies.

REUTERS SR RN1141