Aker Kvaerner Holding As News

Kvaerner says it is exploring new strategic opportunities to further strengthen its business and has retained Greenhill & Co. International LLP to advise on evaluating all strategic alternatives. Kvaerner has during the first half of 2014 delivered several key oil and gas projects on schedule, won new key contracts and continued to implement cost reduction measures. The company's Board of Directors says it is pleased with how Kvaerner has built a strong position as a competitive contractor recognized for its high quality delivery of demanding oil and gas projects. The Board concludes that the time now is right to explore opportunities  to accelerate the  development of Kvaerner.

Aker ASA entered a TRS (Total Return Swap) agreement with exposure to 1,500,000 shares in Aker Solutions ASA.  The expiration date of the TRS agreement is November 1, 2013 and the settlement price in the agreement is NOK 83.717325 share. Aker owns 70% of the shares in Aker Kvaerner Holding AS, which in turn owns 110,333,615 shares, representing 40.3% of the outstanding shares in Aker Solutions. The Norwegian government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, owns the remaining 30% of the Aker Kvaerner Holding shares.

AMC Connector AS, a joint venture between Aker Solutions and Emas Offshore Limited, has agreed to sell subsea construction and cable-lay vessel Lewek Connector (previously called AMC Connector) to Ocean Yield AS. In October 2010, Aker Solutions announced that it would sell its offshore construction and installation subsidiary Aker Marine Contractors to Ezra Holdings Limited (Ezra), which operates in the offshore construction market under the EMAS AMC brand name. As part of this transaction, Ezra agreed to acquire 50 percent of the shares in Lewek Connector's vessel owning company, AMC Connector AS. The divestment of Aker Marine Contractors marked the start of a restructuring of Aker Solutions…