Aker Yards ASA has been informed that the EU Commission has granted STX an exemption from the suspension of voting rights attached to its shares in Aker Yards ASA, due to the pending merger control approval, to the effect that STX will be allowed to vote for its shares at the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to be held 1 April 2008 provided that it exercises the voting rights for the purpose of seeking to secure that the existing members of the Board remains as such.