SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean shipbuilding group STX said Monday it had secured full management control of Norway’s Aker Yards by raising its stake in Europe’s biggest shipyard to 88.4 percent.

STX said it had acquired an additional 48 percent for 660 billion won (632 million dollars), more than doubling its stake.
“We have fully secured management control of Aker,” a group spokesman told AFP, adding the transaction would be completed on August 29.
“It will help STX make inroads into cruise line construction,” he said.
The spokesman said Aker would be renamed STX Europa at a shareholders’ meeting in early September.
“We will make Aker in Norway into a specialized offshore vessel manufacturing base while its yard in France will specialize in cruise ships and defense business.”
Aker Yards said earlier this month that the South Korean offer underrates its potential, but advised shareholders to accept against a background of weak results.
The Norwegian group reported a temporary slowdown in cruise-liner construction and downgraded its profit margins for the full year.