SeaDrill takes stake

OSLO (Bloomberg) ? Bermuda-based SeaDrill Ltd., an oil-rig company led by shipping billionaire John Fredriksen, became the second-largest owner in Norwegian rival Aker Drilling ASA after buying a ten percent stake for about 300 million kroner ($46 million).

SeaDrill, which is run from Stavanger, Norway, bought 8.57 million shares in Aker Drilling at an average price of 35 kroner each, it said in a statement to the Oslo exchange yesterday.

Lease rates for semi-submersible rigs that can be used in deep waters have reached a record of about $520,000 a day as rising oil prices spur companies to step up the search for new deposits. SeaDrill, in which Fredriksen controls 34 percent, has made several acquisitions since it was set up last year, including a $2.4 billion purchase of rig owner Smedvig ASA.

Shares in Aker Drilling jumped as much as 8.7 percent to 37.5 kroner and closed at 36.4 kroner in Oslo. SeaDrill shares closed up 0.7 percent at 92.7 kroner.

Infinity expands

SAO PAULO (Bloomberg) ? Infinity Bio-Energy Ltd., a fund that bought three sugar and ethanol mills in Brazil, plans to buy and build biodiesel plants in the country as demand for alternative fuels rises, its chief executive said.

Bermuda-based Infinity plans to invest about $75 million to buy a biodiesel project and build two more over the next two years, chief executive officer Sergio Thompson-Flores said. Infinity will produce as much as 400 million litres of diesel from vegetable oils annually by 2008, Thompson-Flores said in an interview in Sao Paulo.

"Biodiesel will increasingly gain space as a fuel," Thompson-Flores said. "It makes sense for us to produce more than ethanol and become a clean-fuels maker."

Infinity, which has shares traded in London, may sell new shares in Brazil as early as next year to help finance its expansion plans, Thompson-Flores said.

HSBC Canada up

LONDON (Bloomberg) ? HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest lender by market value, said third-quarter profit at its unit in Canada rose 22 percent helped by increased lending and wealth- management revenue.

Net income rose to 138 million Canadian dollars ($122 million), from 113 million dollars in the year-earlier period, London-based HSBC said yesterday.