Daewoo Shipbuilding eyes wind turbine maker Bard

SEOUL (Reuters) - Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said on Monday that it was considering purchasing German wind turbine maker Bard, as the South Korean shipbuilder seeks new revenue sources in the fast-growing industry.

South Korea's MoneyToday newspaper reported that Daewoo may compete with General Electric and Chinese companies to snap up Bard, which aims to close the deal by early 2012.

"Bard has hired JP Morgan to manage its sale. We are considering a purchase of Bard, but we have not started due diligence yet," a Daewoo spokesman said, adding that he had no knowledge of which other companies may be involved in the bidding.

Shares in Daewoo were up 0.4 percent in a wider market down 1 percent as of 9:58 a.m. EST.

Daewoo in 2009 bought Dewind, a wind power turbine unit of U.S. Composite Technology Corp and completed a wind turbine plant in Canada this year.

Daewoo early this month reported a 56 percent slump in operating profit to 193.1 billion won ($173.8 million) for the third quarter from a year earlier.

Dutch utility HVC said in January it would buy a 15 percent stake in a 600 megawatt offshore wind park project in the North Sea to be built by Bard.

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)