Aker's carbon, wind spinoffs surge on stock market debut

Aker Carbon Capture ASA

26/08/2020 11:34

By Nerijus Adomaitis
    OSLO, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Shares of Aker Carbon Capture
 ACC-ME.OL  and Aker Offshore Wind  AOW-ME.OL  surged on their
first day of trading in Oslo on Wednesday, delivering a boost to
the Aker  AKER.OL  conglomerate's strategy of spinning off
environment technology.
    Aker Solutions  AKES.OL , controlled by Norwegian
billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, announced in July that the two
firms would raise 500 million Norwegian crowns ($55.9 million)
each before a listing on Oslo's smallcap Merkur Market.
    Aker Carbon Capture, which helps firms cut their CO2
emissions, was trading at 5.4 crowns at 1010 GMT, more than
tripling from the 1.7 crowns price of the initial public
offering.
    Aker Offshore Wind  AOW-ME.OL , which aims to develop and
operate floating offshore wind farms, meanwhile traded at 3.3
crowns, more than double of the subscription price of 1.47
crowns.
    The boom was driven by investors seeking to own companies
with a strong profile in environmental, social and corporate
governance (ESG), Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Magnus Olsvik said.
    "There is limited availability of such stocks in Norway, and
the price reflects this lack of supply," the analyst said.
    Aker Carbon Capture has two projects building carbon capture
plants, including one at Heidelberg's  HEIGF.UL  cement factory
in Brevik, where it will use a patented technology developed by
Aker Solutions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2CH055
    Carbon capture is seen as an essential technology to reduce
emissions from industry, such as cement production, which
accounts for about 7% of global CO2 emissions, more than
aviation.
    Aker Offshore Wind's aim of developing floating wind farms
could meanwhile facilitate the harvesting of wind energy in
waters too deep for seabed-fixed turbines, the company told
investors on Tuesday.
    It said it was looking at projects off California, South
Korea, Scotland and Norway, which could provide it a net power
capacity of 1.5-gigawatt (GW).
    In California and South Korea, it plans to develop offshore
wind farms in partnership with Ocean Winds, a joint venture
between Spanish EDP Renewables  EDPR.LS  and French Engie
 ENGIE.PA .
    Roekke's investment firm Aker ASA, which controls Aker
Solutions, holds 51% stake in each of the spinoffs.
        
($1 = 8.9485 Norwegian crowns)

 (Editing by Terje Solsvik and David Evans)
 ((nerijus.adomaitis@thomsonreuters.com; +47 9027 6699; Reuters
Messaging: nerijus.adomaitis.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))