Government proposes to liquidate state ownership of Aker Kværner Holding – E24



[ad_1]

The state has an unrealized loss of 77 percent in Aker Kvaerner Holding. Now the government wants to sell the shares.

Hanna Kristin Hjardar / E24

Published:,

It appears in a press release from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The Ministry and Aker agreed to close Aker Kvaerner Holdig this summer. This is what the government is presenting to the Storting on Tuesday.

As a result, the state becomes the direct owner of Aker Solutions, Akastor, Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Carbon Capture.

However, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry believes that the state no longer has any reason to own shares in these companies long-term after the liquidation, noting that ownership interests are relatively small and that the state will have limited influence. .

Therefore, the ministry will ask the Storting to reduce the ownership of the four companies.

– The main task of the state should be to create the conditions for the creation of value in Norway. As long as the framework conditions are favorable, I hope that many companies will have activities and headquarters in Norway. The oil supplier industry has also changed significantly since the state joined the property in 2007, Trade and Industry Minister Iselin Nybø says in a statement.

Weak development

The state became the owner of Aker Kværner Holding in 2007, and at that time bought it for NOK 4.8 billion.

Now the value is around 1.1 billion kronor, measured by the shares of the four underlying companies, according to the ministry.

The state owns 30 percent of Aker Kværner Holding, while Aker owns the rest. Aker Kværner Holding once again owns approximately 40 per cent of the shares of the four underlying companies.

Therefore, the state owns approximately 12 percent of Aker Solutions and Akastor, approximately 5.8 percent of Aker Carbon Capture, and 5.4 percent of Aker Offshore Wind.

The unrealized return for the state during the ownership period has been around -77 percent, according to the ministry. A total dividend of around NOK 950 million is not included.

However, Aker will continue to have certain obligations as long as the state continues to own more than five percent of the shares in the companies.

This means, among other things, that Aker cannot move its headquarters outside of Norway or make capital changes that require a majority without state approval. Additionally, the state can still nominate board members for whom Aker must vote.

mail
[ad_2]