Aker‘s history - Long traditions
Aker’s history dates back to 1841, when its first mechanical workshop was established on the banks of the Aker River in Norway’s capital.
Proximity to the ocean and exploitation of natural resources — traditions that shaped Norway — also forged Aker’s history. Operations refocused in the late 1960s to serve the emerging North Sea oil and gas industry.
In the mid-1980s, Aker merged with Norcem, a Norway-based international cement and construction materials group that also had significant offshore-industry activities. The cement and construction materials business was later spun off into a separate company, and sold in 1999.
Røkke at the helm
Since the mid-1990s, entrepreneur and industrialist Kjell Inge Røkke has been Aker’s main shareholder and a driving force in the company’s development. Mr. Røkke launched his business career in 1982 with the purchase of a 69-foot trawler in the United States. He gradually built a leading global fisheries business: harvesting and ocean-going processing of white fish. His success in this field enabled him to invest in other businesses, mainly in the United States and Norway.
In 1994, Røkke consolidated his business activities in a Norwegian-US group, Resource Group International, Inc. RGI’s operations were organized into five business areas: fisheries, industry, distribution, real estate, and projects/financing. In 1996, RGI purchased enough Aker shares to become Aker’s largest shareholder; the two companies subsequently merged.
Kværner acquisition
In 2000, through its Aker Maritime subsidiary, Aker acquired a significant shareholding in the Kværner industrial group.
Kværner, established in 1853 in Oslo, developed similarly to Aker, based on Norwegian natural resources. In its early days, Kværner was a leading supplier of turbines for Norwegian hydropower projects and equipment to the wood processing industry. Later, Kværner expanded into shipbuilding, ships’ equipment, LNG (liquefied natural gas) carriers, and offshore oil and gas activities.
In 1996, Kværner acquired the UK-based industrial and construction conglomerate Trafalgar House; among Trafalgar’s holdings were the companies Davy and John Brown that had their beginnings in the British industrial revolution. Ultimately, the Trafalgar House acquisition proved financially unsustainable; in the fall of 2001, Kværner experienced an acute liquidity crisis that nearly felled it.
A comprehensive rescue effort in the winter of 2001–2002 — in which Aker and other Kværner shareholders, customers, creditors, and employees all played important roles — enabled Kværner to survive, with Aker as its largest shareholder.
New structure
Following a series of transactions in the spring and summer of 2004, Aker established a solid financial foundation for further industrial development and growth of its four main companies: Aker Kværner, Aker Yards, Norway Seafoods, and Aker Material Handling.
Aker has established several new companies in recent years, notably Aker Drilling, Aker BioMarine, Aker Floating Production, Aker Exploration, Aker Oilfield Services, and Aker Clean Carbon.
In 2007, Aker divested its stake in Aker Yards and sold Aker Material Handling; the shareholding in Aker Kværner was transferred to Aker Holding, which facilitated the entry of the Norwegian government along with the Wallenberg companies SAAB and Investor of Sweden as Aker Holding co-owners. In April 2008, Aker Kværner changed its name to Aker Solutions.
