BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union regulators said Thursday they would investigate more carefully whether a South Korean company's purchase of a large stake in Europe's largest shipbuilder, Aker Yards ASA, would create antitrust problems for cruise ships.

South Korean industrial group STX Corp. said in October it would pay 4.3 billion Norwegian kroner (US$796 million; €558 million) for 39.2 percent of Norway-based Aker. The deal prompted trade union concerns that it would result in a loss of European jobs to Asia.

The European Commission, which has the power to block major combinations, said it was more concerned that the bid would prevent STX from entering the market as a separate, fourth global builder of cruise ships.

Instead, its Aker purchase would leave cruise ship construction in the hands of just three large players worldwide, the commission said.

"STX may actually be very close to entering the market and to becoming a competitor to the pre-existing players," it said. "The proposed transaction may therefore remove a potential new market entrant and have potentially anticompetitive effects that could result in harm to consumers."

The commission has until May 15 to examine the deal in a second-phase review.

Regulators described STX as a major shipbuilder that has concentrated on building cargo ships while Aker focused on cruise ships, ferries and merchant vessels.

The regulators explained that the need for specialized know-how has prevented new companies from joining the cruise ship building market.

Aker, the world's fifth biggest shipbuilder, has about 20,000 employees and 18 shipyards in Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Romania, Ukraine, Brazil and Vietnam.

The European Metalworkers' Federation, whose members include Germany's biggest trade union, IG Metall, has criticized the deal, saying STX's comments that it wants to remove high-end shipbuilding from Europe to Korea were "a cause for concern."

It called on European governments with shipyards to work together on ways to "keep the initiative in highest value-added shipbuilding in European hands."

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