Maersk to Spin Off Svitzer

Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Thursday it will spin off its towage and marine services activities and plans to list the new company on the Nasdaq Copenhagen stock exchange.

Maersk has sought to streamline its business in recent years, spinning off oil rigs and other units that did not fit with its core shipping and logistics operations.

The anticipated first day of trading for the shares of the new company, to be called Svitzer Group, is on April 30, Maersk said as it reported fourth-quarter profit below expectations.

"It comes as part of their strategy to adapt the business to be pure logistics and transport. There isn't much drama about that," Sydbank analyst Mikkel Emil Jensen told Reuters.

The new unit had revenue last year of $839 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of $246 million.

(Reuters - Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik)