Aker

Aker ASA

Type	Public
Industry	Holding company
Founded	1841
Headquarters	Oslo, Norway
Key people	Øyvind Eriksen (President and CEO), Kjell Inge Røkke (Chairman of the board)
Revenue	NOK 64,647 million (2008)[1]
Operating income	(NOK 1,180 million) (2008)[1]
Profit	(NOK 937 million) (2008)[1]
Employees	26,600 (2008)[1]
Website	www.akerasa.com

Aker ASA (OSE: AKER) is a Norwegian holding company engaged in offshore fishing, construction and engineering. The company is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange and is controlled by Kjell Inge Røkke with 66.66% ownership through TRG Holding. The corporate headquarters are located in Oslo, Norway.

Group companies

As of March 2009:^[2]

• Aker BioMarine (82.9%)
• Aker Capital (100%)
• Aker Clean Carbon (70%)
• Aker Drilling (100%)
• Aker Exploration (61.2%)
• Aker Floating Production (59.1%)
• Aker Holding (60%, and thus indirectly 40% of Aker Solutions)
• Aker Oilfield Services (44.4%)
• Aker Philadelphia Shipyard (50.3%)
• Aker Seafoods (64.95%)
• Molde Fotball AS (100%)

History

Akers Mekaniske Verksted, commonly referred to as Akers Mek, located on the Aker River in Oslo, started up in 1841, at first producing a variety of mechanical equipment but later focusing on shipbuilding. In the 19th century the company focused on construction of whaling-, passenger- and cargo ships. The company later started production of tankers. In the 1970s Aker entered the petroleum market, producing oil platforms. In the 1980s Aker merged with Norcem creating a large cement group in Norway with focus on the offshore industry. This part of the group was sold in 1999.

Kjell Inge Røkke used his investment company Resource Group International to purchase large amounts of Aker shares, and merged the two companies in 1996 to form Aker RGI. Through the listed partial subsidiary, Aker Maritime, Aker acquired its competitor, the offshore engineering and construction company Kværner, in 2000 and merged Aker Maritime and Kværner into Aker Kværner. Kværner had been through major economical trouble due to a bad market in the late 1990s because of the low oil price and the failed purchase of the British company Trafalgar House. After the merger the holding company changed its name back to just Aker.

In 1999, after clearing European anti-monopoly concerns, Aker and Apax Partners merged their warehouse technologies and material handling units to form the Dexion Group Ltd (Apax) and Constructor AS (Aker);^[3] in 2000, the Dexion Group was acquired by Aker and merged with Constructor, while the Australia/Asia Pacific operations were sold.^[4] In 2007, as part of the Aker Material Handling group of companies, Constructor/Dexion was sold to the Swedish finance investor Altor Equity Partners.^[5]

See also

• List of oldest companies

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Annual Report 2008". Aker. http://www.akerasa.com/upload/files/aker_asa_liten_eng_aarsberetn_20081.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-14. 
2. ^ "This is Aker". Aker. http://www.akerasa.com/section.cfm?path=377. Retrieved 2009-03-14. 
3. ^ AKER RGI: Constructor Group and Dexion Group to merge materials handling businesses - http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53028060.html (accessed: 24 February 2012)
4. ^ Champ Ventures' investors realise five times their money, Australian Venture Capital Journal, June 2005, p.6 - http://www.champventures.com/files/AustralianVentureCapitalJournalArticleJune2005.pdf (accessed: 24 February 2012)
5. ^ Dexion history - http://oldsite.dexion.de/eng/The-Company/History (accessed: 24 February 2012)

Coordinates: 59°54′32.27″N 10°43′29.46″E / 59.9089639°N 10.72485°E / 59.9089639; 10.72485