Norway's Aker shares rise 7% following $3.1 billion Cognite sales
Aker ASA shares rose by nearly 7% after the Norwegian investment company and its partners agreed on Wednesday to sell Cognite, a software firm for industrial applications to Schneider Electric in a 'all-cash' deal valued at $3.1 billion.
Cognite, the industrial software unit of Schneider Electric, will be integrated with AVEVA under the agreement announced on Tuesday. The integration is expected to be completed in the next few quarters.
Aker, owned by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge?Roekke, has said that it expects to receive around $1.48bn in net proceeds? from the sale. This includes repayment of a convertible loan.
The company said that the proceeds from this investment'represented approximately 20 times their invested capital in Cognite, and would strengthen their investment capacity. They also added that they would continue to look for investment opportunities across AI and industrial software.
Analysts at JPMorgan stated on Wednesday that Cognite is a good strategic match for Schneider Electric. However, they questioned its high valuation in a time where artificial intelligence disrupts the software industry.
Aker's Oslo listed?shares rose 6.6% around 1000 GMT Wednesday while Schneider Electric's Paris listed shares fell?1.9%.
Aker, which founded Cognite in 2016, has attracted investors such as Accel and TCV. Saudi Aramco acquired a 7.4% stake by 2022.
Aker had been weighing a listing for Cognite for years, first in Oslo, then in the United States. The company's headquarters were even moved to Phoenix, Arizona.
Schneider stated that Cognite will generate a revenue of more than $170 millions in 2025, and employ around 800 people worldwide.
(source: Reuters)
