In the video 'A Legacy of Value Creation' chairman Luc Bertrand says: “When we were listed on the stock exchange in 1984, we were mainly active in dredging and oil drilling.” Ackermans & van Haaren – originally a dredging company – had long been looking for diversification to offset the cyclicality of the dredging sector.
As a dredging company, Ackermans & van Haaren had an extensive fleet comprising numerous seaworthy vessels. With this maritime expertise, the move into offshore oil drilling activities in 1958 was not such an illogical step. Over the years, these activities were broadened to include the onshore oil services sector.
Forasol - Foramer - Forinter
Ten years before the stock market flotation, dredging and maritime works represented by far the largest share of Ackermans & van Haaren’s assets. By the time of the 1984 listing, this had fallen to just 25 to 30 percent. In 1984, Ackermans & van Haaren received 5.75 million euros in dividends from oil drilling activities and only 0.89 million euros from dredging and maritime works. In the years that followed, however, the oil services activities came under pressure, and no dividends were paid for several years.
The names Forasol, Foramer and Forinter would gradually fade from the company’s annual reports. In the 1994 annual report, we still read: “In the oil drilling market, the imbalance between supply and demand persists. (...) No significant improvement in the market is expected in the course of 1995.” A year later, shareholders could read the following: “The consolidation of the offshore industry translated during 1995 into a further restructuring of the market. In this context, the two shareholders of the Forasol-Forinter group (editor’s note: AvH held a 50% stake) decided to regroup their interests in drilling activities under a joint company incorporated under Dutch law: Forasol-Foramer NV. This restructuring was finalized in April 1996.”
With Pride to Nasdaq
In 1996, both shareholders of Forasol-Forinter wanted to contribute to the “essential consolidation of the sector”: on the one hand through an IPO on Nasdaq to raise capital, and on the other by seeking rapprochement with a peer in the drilling industry. The Nasdaq listing took place in May 1996 and was accompanied by a capital increase that “was used to reduce the debt of the Forasol-Foramer group and to finance ongoing investments. On 27 October 1996, an agreement was signed with Pride Petroleum Service of Houston, Texas, to combine the two groups. The merged Pride group was listed on the Nasdaq International Market, and Ackermans & van Haaren held a stake of just over 8.3%. Ackermans & van Haaren concluded this chapter in the 1996 annual report as follows: “For 1997, the prospects for the new group are excellent, thanks in particular to the start-up of new contracts (...).” By the time of the 1998 annual report, however, this optimism had already been tempered: “The high volatility of the global oil market, as well as of oil stocks on the stock exchange, has affected the market value of our financial participation in Pride International. The board of directors has decided to record an impairment of 12.4 million euros in this respect. Three years later, in 2001, Ackermans & van Haaren realized “a nice capital gain on the sale of 900,000 Pride International shares.” The end of a venture into the oil sector...
A new wind
But three years later, a new opportunity emerged... In the 2004 annual report, offshore wind energy was mentioned for the first time in the chapter on DEME: “Power@sea brings together the DEME group’s know-how in the development and construction of offshore wind farms by participating, together with specialized partners, in concessions across Europe as co-initiator and co-concession holder. Power@sea’s first participation is the C-Power project on the Thornton Bank, off the Belgian coast. Power@sea will also be responsible for maintenance after completion of the project. A number of offshore projects in France are also being actively prospected.” In the years that followed, DEME has evolved into the global leader in contracting activities for offshore wind farms.