Aker Yards Enters Chem Tanker Market

Aker Yards signed an agreement with Kleven Maritime to acquire Kleven Florø AS, and Kleven Design AS. Both entities are located in Florø, Norway. The acquisition strengthens Aker Yards' Merchant Vessels Business Area by adding a product range of highly specialized chemical tankers, meeting customer demand and new regulatory requirements. The previously announced joint venture with Damen Shipyard Group in Ukraine creates an opportunity for Aker Yards to develop a new highly competitive line of chemical carriers in combination with Kleven tanker know-how. Aker Yards has agreed to acquire Kleven Florø and Kleven Design at a price of $9.5m including debt, based on a working capital of zero. In addition there will be further payments based on performance on existing order backlog and new orders in the coming three years. The order intake part of the payments is capped at $5.7m. Kleven Florø has approximately 300 employees, and there are 30 engineers at Kleven Design. The turnover of Kleven Florø and Kleven Design was $55.3m in 2005. The orderbook today consists of one juice tanker and two chemical tankers at a total value of approximately $205.4m. Kleven Florø and Kleven Design are leading in design and construction of chemical tankers, and have a unique production competence using stainless steel in shipbuilding. By joining Aker Yards, the Kleven Florø yard will capitalize on a long term, and predictable ship hull supply from Aker Yards capacity base in Eastern Europe.