Aker Horizons ASA's portfolio company Aker Carbon Capture ASA (ACC), together with SLB, announced an agreement to combine their respective carbon capture businesses to support accelerated industrial decarbonization at scale. The transaction builds on the long-standing collaboration between the Aker group and SLB.

The partnership will leverage ACC's commercial carbon capture product offering and SLB's new technology developments and industrialization capability. It will create a vehicle for accelerating the introduction of early-stage technologies into the global market on a commercial, proven platform. Following the transaction, SLB will own 80% of the combined business and ACC will own 20%.

"We are immensely proud of what ACC has accomplished and the value creation this transaction demonstrates for shareholders. We can think of no better partner than SLB to rapidly scale cost-effective solutions across the carbon capture value chain," said Aker Horizons CEO and Aker Carbon Capture Chairman Kristian Røkke.

ACC was incubated in the Aker group and has served as a key pillar for Aker Horizons since inception in 2020. The Company was listed the same year, and Aker Horizons has since been ACC's largest shareholder, with a current ownership stake of 43.3 percent.

During this period, Aker Horizons and ACC have worked closely together to develop the nascent CCUS industry and accelerate deployment of ACC's carbon capture technology. The Company currently has seven carbon capture plants under delivery in Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark, which constitute the most mature, large-scale carbon capture projects under construction in Europe today.

In addition, ACC has been awarded a significant number of feasibility studies, pre-FEED and FEED contracts in both the European and North American market, giving the Company an accumulated pipeline covering approximately 40 million tonnes of CO2 capture per year across all categories of contracted work.

"We are very pleased to further strengthen our collaboration with SLB. This transaction marks another important step to Aker and SLB's existing partnerships within subsea with Aker Solutions and digitalization with Cognite. Aker Carbon Capture and SLB will benefit from having a highly complementary carbon capture technology portfolio and a broader geographical presence. The transaction is underpinned by a shared strategic vision that reflects a strong commitment to long-term value creation and helping customers deliver on their decarbonization targets in supporting Net Zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Furthermore, SLB shares our commitment to innovation and deploying digital solutions," said Øyvind Eriksen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aker ASA and Chairman of Aker Horizons.

At closing, SLB will pay NOK 4.12 billion in cash to ACC for the purchase of 80% of the shares in Aker Carbon Capture Holding AS (ACCH), which holds the business of ACC. In addition, ACC will retain NOK 0.40 billion in cash. The sum of the purchase price for ACCH and retained cash corresponds to a value per ACC share of NOK 9.19. In addition, ACC will be entitled to a performance-based payment of up to NOK 1.36 billion. Reference is made to ACC's release published today for further details.

SLB is a global energy technology company, and is engaged in carbon capture, utilization and sequestration (CCUS) solutions across industrial and energy sectors. As part of and subject to completion of the transaction, ACCH will pay USD 50 million to purchase SLB's carbon capture business.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by end of the second quarter, 2024.

Following the transaction, Aker Horizons will continue to support ACC as a partner with SLB in the carbon capture business. Aker Horizons will evaluate its strategic options and continue to optimize its balance sheet to position itself for future growth through M&A, incubation, capital recycling and partnerships across assets in its portfolio.