Aker Seeks More Investments - Roekke

Norwegian industrial holding company Aker expects to conduct more acquisitions and other transactions in coming years, the firm's top owner said on Friday.

"At Aker, and companies owned by Aker, the transaction activity will probably increase," billionaire investor Kjell Inge Roekke, who holds 67 percent of the company's shares, wrote in an annual letter to his fellow shareholders.

Over the past year, Aker's investment team has been presented with an unusually high number of projects and companies seeking investors, and is prepared to take part in transactions and restructurings, he added.

Roekke has an estimated net wealth of 11.1 billion crowns ($1.36 billion) according to financial periodical Kapital, which in 2015 ranked him Norway's ninth-richest person.

"Our focus will be on industries where Aker has experience and which we believe we're good at, but I won't exclude the possibility that Aker under the right circumstances would consider deploying capital in new segments," Roekke wrote.

Energy-related investments will remain key, with a particular focus on oil and gas, the letter said.

Aker is the top owner of a range of listed firms including oil company Det norske, oil services firms Aker Solutions and Kvaerner, fisheries company Havfisk, shipping firm American Shipping, vessel owner Ocean Yield and Philly Shipyard .

Reporting by Terje Solsvik