Dutch marine services companies relaunch merger

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, a provider of industrial marine services, relaunched a euro1.1 billion ($1.65 billion) bid for Smit International NV on Thursday.

Boskalis said Smit's management will endorse its euro60 per share cash bid, which offers an 8.9 percent premium to Smit's closing price Wednesday of euro55.10.

Boskalis is best known for its dredging activities, but also builds harbors and waterways and provides terminal transport services. Smit is a salvage company, frequently participating in operations to save foundering ships or tug them to safety -- it raised the Kursk Russian submarine in 2001. It also provides heavy lifting and transport services.

Boskalis announced intentions for a euro62.50 bid in September last year but called it off after the financial crisis struck.

Analyst Bart van den Wijngaard of Petercam Bank said the takeover price looked fair, but he repeated a "Reduce" rating on Boskalis shares.

"Although Boskalis is not overpaying, we expect the synergies to be limited," he said in a note on the takeover announcement.

"Moreover, we continue to expect that Boskalis will face substantial margin pressure in the coming years due to the almost 40 percent increase in hopper (barge) capacity of the big four players and the expected fall in dredging volumes."

He said competition from Chinese firms is also expected to increase.

Boskalis shares fell 3 percent to euro25.32 in Amsterdam, while Smit was up 6.5 percent to euro59.20.