Daewoo Shipbuilding Shares Surge on M&A Talk

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. shares rose as much as 6.7 percent on August 3 after a local newspaper said steel maker POSCO Co. Ltd. was interested in buying the shipbuilder. South Korea aims to sell a controlling stake in Daewoo, the world's second-biggest shipbuilder, in the second half of 2006. State-run Korea Development Bank and government restructuring agency KAMCO own a combined 50.6 percent stake, valued at more than $3b according to current market prices. POSCO, which is slated to become the world's number four steel maker once Mittal Steel's takeover of Arcelor is completed, has been facing falling margins due to weak steel prices in a market awash with Chinese supplies, Reuters reported. Daewoo had a $7.93m net profit on sales of $4.8b in 2005. (Source: Reuters)