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March 4 (Reuters) - Transocean Ltd , theworld's largest offshore drilling contractor, said its boardrecommended restarting dividend payments, more than a monthafter activist investor Carl Icahn pushed for a payout.
The board has recommended that shareholders approve $2.24per share dividend at the annual general meeting on May 17. Thetotal payout would be about $800 million, the company said. Itplans to pay the dividend on a quarterly basis starting June.
Top shareholder Icahn, who now owns 5.6 percent ofTransocean shares, pushed for nearly double of the recommendeddividend. He asked for at least $4 per share in January.
After paying a dividend in 2011, its first in nine years,Transocean last year abandoned payouts that totaled $3.16 pershare annually, to maintain a strong balance sheet andinvestment-grade rating on its debt.
The company has struggled with ballooning costs over thepast few years as it sought to get its ageing fleet into shapeunder stricter regulations that followed BP's 2010Macondo oil spill, which destroyed a Transocean rig and killed11 people.
Transocean reached a $1.4 billion settlement with the U.S.government on Jan. 3 over its liability in the Macondo disaster.Ten days later, Icahn declared his initial stake of about 1.56percent.
Switzerland-based Transocean, which has a long-term debt ofover $11 billion, plans to accelerate repayment with anobjective of retiring $1 billion of debt by the end of 2014.
Transocean reported on Friday a rise in revenue andhigher-than-expected profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 asmore of its fleet was working compared with a year ago.
The company's shares were up 3.7 percent at 50.40 Swissfrancs on the SIX Swiss Exchange on Monday.
