Aker Horizons CEO Christian Røkke (39), son of billionaire Kjell Inge Røkke, was profitable last year. In total, he earned NOK 24 million for his first year as head of the green investment umbrella company for the Røkke-dominated Aker system – five million in fixed salary and another 19 million in bonuses.
It appears in the company’s annual report released Tuesday evening.
However, a meager 15 million of the variable portion of the salary was used to purchase stock in an Aker Horizons subsidiary, as part of a management incentive program. These shares can only be converted into shares in the listed company, or resold to the company for cash, after the so-called three-year closing period.
In any case, the 2021 payout is a solid raise for the CEO, who in 2020 earned 4.4 million in eight months as Aker’s CIO, before starting at Aker Horizons and paying 1.1 million for the rest of the year. Prior to that, he was the head of the Akastor oil service company in Aker.
At the end of 2020, Kristian Røkke was listed with a fortune of 386 million NOK. By comparison, Kjell Inge Røkke had an estimated fortune of 19.6 billion.
Heavy stock market journey
However, Aker Horizons did not succeed on the stock exchange, as the company’s market capitalization since its listing in February last year has more than halved – to about 12 billion NOK.
Among other things, Aker Offshore Wind’s wind energy investment has suffered for a long time, and capital is running out. Recently it became known That Aker Horizons had to issue a “letter of financial support” for the subsidiary for a period of 12 months.
One week before Russia entered Ukraine, broker Nordea Markets came up with an updated analysis in which it kept its buy recommendation for Aker Horizons stock, but lowered its target price from 44 kroner to 26 kroner. The stock closed on Tuesday at NOK 19.6.
“While we continue to see Aker Horizons as an attractive game in the energy transition, we acknowledge the recent negative sentiment for high-growth stocks and increased investor focus on value. As a result, we will remove the 10 percent premium we previously added to Nav,” reads the analysis Nordea company.
Nav is an acronym for Net Asset Value or Net Asset Value.
Paper loss in stock purchases
The shares purchased by Christian Rock were bought at the same time as Aker Horizons was listed on the stock exchange in early 2021 at a discount of 25 percent in relation to the issue price received by other investors, which is 35 NOK. This entails a purchase price of just over 26 kroner.
The annual report states that Christian Roque bought shares for a total of 25 million Norwegian kroner. At the time of writing this means a paper loss of NOK 6.3 million, but the decision won’t come until two years from now.
Aker’s CEO, Øyvind Eriksen, was for a long time the highest paid CEO in Norway. He had nearly 30 million of his gross pay in 2019, but it fell sharply to 11 million in 2020 – after he asked to cut his salary in half and cut his bonus for most of the year due to difficulties in the wake of the pandemic.
Sees increased investment in the European Union
Aker Horizons’ annual report also notes that the war in Ukraine could lead to a rapid energy transition in Europe.
The company notes that the conflict, which has led to a sharp jump in oil and gas prices, will affect markets in 2022 – and possibly for much longer.
This has given the European Union strong incentives to reduce its dependence on gas, which could benefit Aker Horizons by increasing investments in renewable energy, nuclear power and pure hydrogen.
At the end of last year, as is known, Aker ASA founded the investment company Aker Asset Management (AAM), which will be headed by former oil fund manager Yngve Slyngstad.
The annual report discusses the strategic role of AAM in the Aker system, and notes the fact that volatility in the capital markets may continue to affect Aker Horizons and its portfolio companies’ access to capital in the public markets.
This is why Aker Horizons has started operations to develop and access alternative sources of capital.
“AAM’s goal is to create large funds that invest in profitable climate solutions that create value, with green energy, green industry and green cities as priority areas. Access to private capital markets will allow the Aker Horizons ecosystem to pursue ambitious growth strategies and larger projects, where economies of scale will have a positive impact on project returns.”(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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