Rejection of bid causes quarrel between Aker Maritime and Kvaerner

A war of words has broken out between Aker Maritime and Kvaerner following the latest attempt by the Norwegian construction and engineering company to buy out its rival. Aker Maritime is understood to have rejected a bid by Kvaerner on the grounds the offer of 560 mm Euros did not reflect the true value of the company.
But a spokesman for Aker Maritime told the circumstances of the offer left many in the organisation perplexed at the timing and choreography of the bid. "We received no formal notification of the bid until after Kvaerner sent a press release to the stock exchange. Given that Kvaerner had made the offer subject to the approval of at least 90 % of the shareholders in Aker RGI, it seems strange Aker RGI were not contacted directly. It makes us curious about the real agenda," he said.

But Keith Russell of Kvaerner poured scorn on any suggestion of a hidden agenda on the part of Kvaerner. He said the company had acted 'at all times in a fair, open and transparent way,' "If Aker aresaying this took them by surprise, it is simply not true. Three times we have prepared bids for the company and three times those bids have been rejected. In any case, no formal bid has been made, a signal of intent was presented to the stock exchange. We will prepare a formal document offer to Aker and they will have two weeks to give their response,"
Russell, however, indicated the current offer on the table would not be improved, should Aker attempt to push for more concessions. It is believed bad blood exists between the two companies since Aker bought a 26.39 % stake in Kvaerner last month. Russell claims this was a 'hostile and unsolicited move'.