Kvaerner holds on to Amec stake

KVAERNER, the Norwegian group which failed to win control of Amec before Christmas, said last week it had no immediate plans to sell the 26 per cent stake it acquired during the bid.

Kvaerner vice-president Jan Magne Heggelund said: We are now the largest shareholder and we will naturally be taking a close interest in the financial affairs of the company.

Mr Heggelund said Kvaerner was still committed to obtaining a major international civil engineering contracting company.

We felt that we wanted a strong relationship with a civil engineering contractor. That is still our intention, he said.

He was speaking after Kvaerner unveiled a doubling in pre-tax profits to 246 million in 1995, helped by a strong result in ship building and an improved result from its oil and gas business.

Kvaerner, which owns the Govan shipyard on the Clyde and employs more than 3,000 people in Britain, has to wait until November before it can launch a fresh bid for Amec.