Aker ASA

As of February 2020:[3]

• Currently owned
  • Akastor ASA (36.7%)
  • Aker BioMarine ASA (100%)
  • Aker Solutions ASA including Kværner (34.8%)
  • Aker BP ASA (40%)
  • Ocean Yield ASA (61.7%)
  • Aker Energy (49%)
  • Cognite AS (65.2%)
• Previously owned
  • Aker Drilling (now part of Transocean)
  • Aker Yards (now part of STX Europe)

The company takes its name from the former Akers mekaniske Verksted, which was Norway's largest shipyard and which closed in 1982. In 1987 one of the surviving companies split off from the shipyard merged with Norcem, creating a large cement group in Norway with focus on the offshore industry. The cement business 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);[4] in 2000, the Dexion Group was acquired by Aker and merged with Constructor, while the Australia/Asia Pacific operations were sold.[5] In 2007, as part of the Aker Material Handling group of companies, Constructor/Dexion was sold to the Swedish finance investor Altor Equity Partners.[6]