Successful secondary placement of shares in Aker BP ASA

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, HONG KONG, JAPAN OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.

Reference is made to the stock exchange notice published on 10 November 2021 regarding a potential block sale of existing shares in Aker BP ASA (“Aker BP” or the “Company”) by Aker ASA (100% owner of Aker Capital AS) (“Aker”) and bp p.l.c (100% owner of BP Exploration Operating Company Ltd) (“BP”) (jointly the “Sellers”).

The Sellers have successfully sold 18,010,000 shares in the Company, representing approximately 5% of the shares outstanding in the Company, at NOK 310 per share (the “Offering”). 10,291,429 of the shares were sold by Aker and 7,718,571 of the shares were sold by BP. Settlement is expected to take place on a delivery versus payment basis on or about 15 November 2021.

Following the Offering, Aker holds 133,757,576 shares in the Company, representing approximately 37.14% of the outstanding shares and votes in the Company and BP holds 100,302,878 shares in the Company, representing approximately 27.85% of the outstanding shares and votes in the Company. The Sellers have entered into a 6-month lock-up with the managers on the remaining shares in the Company held by the Sellers after the Offering, subject to certain exemptions.

Kjell Inge Røkke, the chairman of the board of directors in Aker ASA and the ultimate majority owner of Aker ASA, is a member of the board of directors in Aker BP. Øyvind Eriksen, the President and CEO of Aker ASA, is the chairman of the board of directors in Aker BP. Murray Auchincloss, the CFO of BP Plc and Kate Thomson, SVP Finance OB&C of BP Plc, are members of the board of directors in Aker BP. 

J.P. Morgan AG and Pareto Securities AS acted as Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners in the Offering, together with DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley & Co. International that acted as Joint Bookrunners in the Offering (the “Managers”). Advokatfirmaet BAHR AS acted as Norwegian legal advisers.

This information is considered to include inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation article 7 and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act and the EU Market Abuse Regulation article 19. This stock exchange announcement was published by Laila Hop, Paralegal in Aker ASA, on November 11, 2021 at 01.10 CET.

Important Notices

This announcement is not and does not form a part of any offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase, any securities of the Company. The distribution of this announcement and other information may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful or would require registration or other measures. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions.

The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and accordingly may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in accordance with applicable U.S. state securities laws. The Company does not intend to register any part of the offering or its securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.

In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 as amended together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member State.

This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United  Kingdom that are “qualified investors” within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation as it forms part of English law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services  and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.

Matters discussed in this announcement may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "strategy", "intends", "estimate", "will", "may", "continue",  "should" and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. Although the Sellers believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, these assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond their control.

By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different from those projected. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except for any ongoing obligation to disclose material information as required by the applicable law, the Sellers do not have any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after they distributes this announcement, whether to reflect any future events or circumstances or otherwise.

Neither of the Managers nor any of their respective affiliates makes any representation as to the accuracy or completeness of this announcement and none of them accepts any responsibility for the contents of this announcement or any matters referred to herein.

Each of the Managers is acting for the Sellers only in connection with the Offering and no one else, and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Sellers for providing the protections offered to clients nor for providing advice in relation to the Offering, the contents of this announcement or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to in this announcement.

This announcement is for information purposes only and is not to be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. It is not intended as investment advice and under no circumstances is it to be used or considered as an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities in the Company. Neither the Managers nor any of their respective affiliates accepts any liability arising from the use of this announcement.