Aker Kvaerner will acquire a total of 1,300 TH Global employees who are currently hired in and working for Aker Kvaerner in the UK. These personnel resources are key to Aker Kvaerner's execution of its record-high order backlog, and they will play important roles in pursuing future business opportunities.

Aker Kvaerner will pay GBP 64 million to TH Global over a six-year period. The transaction will have an immediate, positive annual profit effect for Aker Kvaerner of approximately GBP 7 million.

For TH Global, the transaction with Aker Kvaerner is part of its financing of a recently concluded agreement with Trafalgar House Trustees Limited, which manages the UK pension fund of the former Kvaerner organization. TH Global has agreed to pay GBP 101 million to the pension fund. The appropriate UK authority, the Pensions Regulator, has issued a clearance statement in respect of the arrangement.

The employees that will be acquired by Aker Kvaerner will leave the former Kvaerner organization's UK pension scheme; they will be offered participation in Aker Kvaerner's contribution-based pension plan in the UK.

Aker, the majority shareholder of Aker Kvaerner, will contribute to the fulfillment of these agreements by converting an unsecured NOK 296 million receivable, payable by the TH Global Group, to an ownership interest in the parent company of the TH Global Group.

"This substantial contribution by our majority shareholder, Aker ASA, has helped Aker Kvaerner reach a strategically, financially, and operationally important solution," says Aker Kvaerner President and CEO Inge K. Hansen. "Greater profitability and predictability associated with our UK resources should result in a renewed ability to secure lower-cost financing, and be reflected in our share value. This will benefit all our shareholders."

Please also see press releases from:

Aker ASA

The TH Global Group

The Kvaerner Pension Fund

For further information, please contact:

ENDS

 

 

Media:
Torbjørn Andersen, SVP Group Communications, Aker Kvaerner. Tel: +47 67 51 30 36, Mob: +47 928 85 542

 

Investor relations:
Lasse Torkildsen, Vice President, Investor Relations, Aker Kvaerner. Tel: +47 67 51 30 39, Mob: +47 911 37 194

 

AKER KVÆRNER ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Kvaerner"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. The business within Aker Kvaerner comprises several industries, including Oil & Gas, Refining & Chemicals, Mining & Metals, Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology, Power Generation and Pulp & Paper. The Aker Kvaerner group is organised into two principal business streams, namely Oil & Gas and E&C, each consisting of a number of separate legal entities. Aker Kvaerner is used as the common brand/trademark for most of these entities.

 

The parent company in the group is Aker Kværner ASA. Aker Kvaerner has aggregated annual revenues of approximately NOK 41.4 billion and employs approximately 20 000 people in more than 30 countries.

Aker Kvaerner is part of the Aker Group (www.akerasa.com), a leading multi-industry powerhouse with more than 40 000 employees and NOK 60 billion revenues. Aker owns 50.01 per cent of Aker Kvaerner, and the group is also a major European shipbuilder and a significant participant in the fisheries industry.

This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see our web-pages www.akerkvaerner.com.