JFE holdings to increase stake in Hitachi Zosen shipbuilding jv

Tokyo: JFE Holdings is to increase its current 50% stake in its shipbuilding joint venture with Hitachi Zosen Corp by 35%, reports Dow Jones.  The Japanese steelmaking and engineering group hopes that the new stake of 85% by the end of March will allow it to focus on its shipbuilding operations. Although neither company specified how much the stake sale was worth, Hitachi Zosen said it will book a 17.1bn yen special profit from the sale and raised its net profit outlook for this fiscal year to 11bn yen from 5bn yen.
 
The announcement of the stake purchase comes after IHI Corp. said earlier in the day it has entered into talks with JFE on a potential merger of their shipbuilding operations.  [07/03/08]