Norwegian industrial investment company founded in 1841, now owned by Kjell Inge Røkke. Anker’s holdings include fishing, energy, financial and real estate interests, such as Aker BP, Aker Solutions, Akastor, Kvaerner, Ocean Yield and Aker BioMarine.
Peter Severin Steenstrup founded Aker as Akers Mekaniske Verksted, a workshop and shipyard in Oslo. In 1856, the company built the first steamship in Norway, the Færdesmanden. Thomas Fredrik Olsen took over ownership of Aker in 1917 and further developed the company’s turbine, shipbuilding, oil and construction businesses. The Olsen family remained in control of Aker until 1985. Entrepreneur Kjell Inge Røkke’s company, RGI, purchased Aker and merged the two companies in 1996. In 2002, Aker amalgamated the Norwegian engineering and construction firm, Kvaerner.
A privately-held company since 2000, Aker re-listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2004. The company established Aker Drilling, Aker BioMarine, Aker Floating Production, Aker Exploration, Aker Oilfield Services and Aker Clean Carbon throughout the early 2000s. Røkke remains the majority shareholder of the company, which sees over $8 billion in annual sales.
- Family name: Rokke family
- Sector: Oil & Gas
- Founded: 1841
- Founder:
- Country: Norway
- Company headquarters:
- Revenue:8.3
- Employees: 26,026
- Website: akerasa.com
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