Aker Solutions ASA: NPS Transaction Update

Aker Solutions has  ended the process to acquire the Dubai-headquartered oil services company NPS Energy.

Aker Solutions announced an agreement to buy the shares in NPS Energy on 21 May 2012. The agreement was conditional upon a series of parameters being fulfilled before the end of the closing period.

The agreement stated that if the transaction had not closed by 20 November 2012, both parties had the right to terminate from 21 November 2012. Aker Solutions has today informed the seller of NPS Energy that it has terminated the agreement.

"We and the seller have not been able to reach the conditions for closing as agreed, and rather than risk increasing uncertainty, it was in the company and our shareholders' interest to terminate the transaction," says Øyvind Eriksen, executive chairman of Aker Solutions.

Aker Solutions remains committed to grow its business and to serve its clients in the Middle East and North Africa. A consequence of the announcement is that Aker Solutions' near-term growth in this market is likely to be organic. At the same time, the oil and gas markets are in a growth cycle globally, and the cancelled transaction means the company can deploy more of its constrained resources on current and future opportunities.

"We will continue to develop Aker Solutions as a more focused, global oilfield products, systems and services provider, by building on our strength in our home market and growing in a controlled manner internationally," says Eriksen.