New course for Aker (03.04.2009)
Aker ASA is focusing and simplifying the organization of its business activities. The company’s several operational companies will be organized into either Industrial Holdings or Financial Holdings. Executive talent is being added to Aker’s management to assure a full complement of resources.
Aker ASA is an active industrial ownership company. The organizational modifications are being implemented to make Aker a more clearly defined - and an even more demanding - owner of its independent, operational companies. The purpose is to reinforce Aker ASA’s role as a strategic and financial driver of its business enterprises.
- Our agenda is to create and visualize value through long-term development of solid businesses. We are sharpening Aker’s capabilities in order to optimally advance each business, says Aker President and CEO Øyvind Eriksen. Aker’s new organizational model will be introduced stepwise, and will be completely implemented as of 1 July 2009.
Industrial Holdings
Aker’s Industrial Holdings encompass its ownership interests in Aker Solutions, Aker Drilling, Aker Exploration, and Aker Ghana (oil and gas), Aker Clean Carbon, and Aker BioMarine.
- Aker will be a driver in the long-term development of these industrial companies, working closely with their boards of directors and management. For each of the companies, Aker ASA will have a single, key executive whose task is to assure ongoing development of that industrial asset, Øyvind Eriksen says.
Aker Board Chairman Kjell Inge Røkke and CEO Øyvind Eriiksen will be actively involved in the development of Aker’s industrial companies. - Our working methods will make Aker ASA an even more effective strategic driver, building robust, value-adding companies, Mr. Eriksen says.
Financial Holdings
Aker’s Financial Holdings comprises Portfolio Investments in companies such as Aker Floating Production, Aker Ocean Harvest, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Aker Seafoods, American Shipping Company, and Bjørge.
- We intend to drive development of the companies in our Portfolio Investments and enhance shareholder value through restructuring or for example other measures. In the past, Aker has demonstrated its ability to develop companies through acquisitions, sales of ownership interests, mergers, and other transactions. We will apply these capabilities to accelerate the rate of development of portfolio companies, says Eriksen.
Aker’s Financial Holdings includes the asset management company Aker Asset Management.
Aker ASA and its wholly owned holding companies had total assets of NOK 20.7 billion as of 1 January 2009. The NOK 20.7 billion figure is distributed as follows: Financial Holdings amounted to 8 percent. Industrial Holdings amounted to 29 percent. Treasury (cash, cash equivalents, and net interest-bearing receivables) amounted to 54 percent. Other assets constituted nine percent of total assets.
Strengthening the organization
Under the new organizational model, Aker ASA will no longer maintain a traditional Group management structure. An Investment Manager will be in charge of each of the companies in Aker’s Industrial Holdings. A separate team of managers will be established for companies in Aker’s Portfolio Investments. Aker’s Treasury unit will also be strengthened. However, Aker’s finance and staff support functions will not be significantly modified as part of the restructuring.
- Not all personnel deployment details have been finalized, but one thing is certain: No member of the current team will become unemployed, says President and CEO Eriksen.
Among the responsibilities awaiting talented managers, Mr. Eriksen points out, are the many promising companies in Aker ASA’s current portfolio along with the new opportunities emerging as a result of today’s turbulent financial markets. According to Eriksen, Aker’s strong industrial and financial position, allows the company to participate in significant industrial innovations, for example through transactions, industrial partnerships, or alliances.
- Staffing the newly created Investment Manager positions has been our priority thus far, Eriksen notes. - An experienced manager will return to Aker to help run our Portfolio Investments.
Liv Monica Bargem Stubholt will join Aker ASA as an Investment Manager. She has been a state secretary for the past four years, serving first at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as of 2007 at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. At Aker, she will be in charge of the Aker Clean Carbon industrial engagement. Ms. Stubholt will assume her responsibilities at Aker ASA in the third quarter of 2009, following the employment quarantine period that applies to state secretaries.
Other Investment Managers are Øistein Widding (in charge of Aker Solutions), Maria Moræus Hanssen (in charge of Exploration & Production, including Aker Exploration and Aker Ghana), and Ola Snøve (in charge of Aker BioMarine). The three are currently Aker ASA employees. The Aker Drilling Investment Manager will be appointed at a later date.
Frank Reite will work on Aker’s Portfolio Investments; he will join Aker after the Easter holiday. Frank Reite was elected as the new Board Chairman of Aker Seafoods by the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Mr. Reite has held executive positions at Aker from 1995 to 2004. He subsequently headed the Glitnir Group in Norway and was an operating director at Paine & Partners in New York.
Executive Vice Presidents Bengt A. Rem, Karl Erik Kjelstad, Martinus Brandal, Trine Sæther Romuld, and Geir Arne Drangeid, all of whom are part of the current management team, will continue at Aker. Group EVP Nils Are Karstad Lysø has opted to seek new professional challenges outside of Aker. He has been a key aide to CEO Eriksen regarding development and implementation of a new Aker ASA organizational model; he will not leave the company until some time in the second half of 2009.
Presentation attached.
For further information, please contact:
Geir Arne Drangeid, Senior Partner & SVP, Aker ASA, tel: +47 913 10 458
- Our agenda is to create and visualize value through long-term development of solid businesses. We are sharpening Aker’s capabilities in order to optimally advance each business, says Aker President and CEO Øyvind Eriksen. Aker’s new organizational model will be introduced stepwise, and will be completely implemented as of 1 July 2009.
Industrial Holdings
Aker’s Industrial Holdings encompass its ownership interests in Aker Solutions, Aker Drilling, Aker Exploration, and Aker Ghana (oil and gas), Aker Clean Carbon, and Aker BioMarine.
- Aker will be a driver in the long-term development of these industrial companies, working closely with their boards of directors and management. For each of the companies, Aker ASA will have a single, key executive whose task is to assure ongoing development of that industrial asset, Øyvind Eriksen says.
Aker Board Chairman Kjell Inge Røkke and CEO Øyvind Eriiksen will be actively involved in the development of Aker’s industrial companies. - Our working methods will make Aker ASA an even more effective strategic driver, building robust, value-adding companies, Mr. Eriksen says.
Financial Holdings
Aker’s Financial Holdings comprises Portfolio Investments in companies such as Aker Floating Production, Aker Ocean Harvest, Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Aker Seafoods, American Shipping Company, and Bjørge.
- We intend to drive development of the companies in our Portfolio Investments and enhance shareholder value through restructuring or for example other measures. In the past, Aker has demonstrated its ability to develop companies through acquisitions, sales of ownership interests, mergers, and other transactions. We will apply these capabilities to accelerate the rate of development of portfolio companies, says Eriksen.
Aker’s Financial Holdings includes the asset management company Aker Asset Management.
Aker ASA and its wholly owned holding companies had total assets of NOK 20.7 billion as of 1 January 2009. The NOK 20.7 billion figure is distributed as follows: Financial Holdings amounted to 8 percent. Industrial Holdings amounted to 29 percent. Treasury (cash, cash equivalents, and net interest-bearing receivables) amounted to 54 percent. Other assets constituted nine percent of total assets.
Strengthening the organization
Under the new organizational model, Aker ASA will no longer maintain a traditional Group management structure. An Investment Manager will be in charge of each of the companies in Aker’s Industrial Holdings. A separate team of managers will be established for companies in Aker’s Portfolio Investments. Aker’s Treasury unit will also be strengthened. However, Aker’s finance and staff support functions will not be significantly modified as part of the restructuring.
- Not all personnel deployment details have been finalized, but one thing is certain: No member of the current team will become unemployed, says President and CEO Eriksen.
Among the responsibilities awaiting talented managers, Mr. Eriksen points out, are the many promising companies in Aker ASA’s current portfolio along with the new opportunities emerging as a result of today’s turbulent financial markets. According to Eriksen, Aker’s strong industrial and financial position, allows the company to participate in significant industrial innovations, for example through transactions, industrial partnerships, or alliances.
- Staffing the newly created Investment Manager positions has been our priority thus far, Eriksen notes. - An experienced manager will return to Aker to help run our Portfolio Investments.
Liv Monica Bargem Stubholt will join Aker ASA as an Investment Manager. She has been a state secretary for the past four years, serving first at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as of 2007 at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. At Aker, she will be in charge of the Aker Clean Carbon industrial engagement. Ms. Stubholt will assume her responsibilities at Aker ASA in the third quarter of 2009, following the employment quarantine period that applies to state secretaries.
Other Investment Managers are Øistein Widding (in charge of Aker Solutions), Maria Moræus Hanssen (in charge of Exploration & Production, including Aker Exploration and Aker Ghana), and Ola Snøve (in charge of Aker BioMarine). The three are currently Aker ASA employees. The Aker Drilling Investment Manager will be appointed at a later date.
Frank Reite will work on Aker’s Portfolio Investments; he will join Aker after the Easter holiday. Frank Reite was elected as the new Board Chairman of Aker Seafoods by the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Mr. Reite has held executive positions at Aker from 1995 to 2004. He subsequently headed the Glitnir Group in Norway and was an operating director at Paine & Partners in New York.
Executive Vice Presidents Bengt A. Rem, Karl Erik Kjelstad, Martinus Brandal, Trine Sæther Romuld, and Geir Arne Drangeid, all of whom are part of the current management team, will continue at Aker. Group EVP Nils Are Karstad Lysø has opted to seek new professional challenges outside of Aker. He has been a key aide to CEO Eriksen regarding development and implementation of a new Aker ASA organizational model; he will not leave the company until some time in the second half of 2009.
Presentation attached.
For further information, please contact:
Geir Arne Drangeid, Senior Partner & SVP, Aker ASA, tel: +47 913 10 458
1Q 2010 report