business partnership with the US Department of Defense that would last until 2006. 1996: Kværner sought to strengthen its engineering base internationally through the acquisition of the UK-based conglomerate, Trafalgar House and became an international player in shipbuilding, oil and gas, pulp and paper and engineering and construction. It moved its international headquarters to London. 1998: Kværner's pulp and paper became a core business area in its own right 1999: The company initiated a major sell-off, focusing on realising capital through divestments. These efforts did not solve the mounting financial and operational challenges, which eventually brought the company into an acute liquidity crisis in August 2001. 2000: In July of that year, Aker Maritime ASA, a Norway-based offshore products, technology and services provider, bought a 26 per cent of the shares in Kværner ASA. 2001: In November of that year, an agreement was reached between Aker Maritime ASA and Kværner ASA. Aker Maritime injected NOK 2.8 bn in net assets, raised another NOK 3.5 bn through two direct issues and renegotiated NOK 8.6 bn of Kværner's debt. 2002: The Group decided to adopt the Aker Kvaerner brand for the entire Group. Aker Kværner, and transition to Aker Solutions: 2002 to 2008 Aker Kværner was the result of a merger of Aker Maritime and Kværner Oil & Gas in 2002, and a major restructuring of the Aker Kværner business unit in 2004. Earlier in 2003, the group structure of Aker Kværner was split into six business areas; Field Development Europe, MMO Europe, Subsea & Oilfield Products, Oil, Gas & Process International, E&C Europe and E&C Americas. A need arose in 2004 to simplify a rather complex group structure which led to the formation of two focused industrial groups: Aker Kværner, specialists within Oil, Gas, Energy and Process; and Aker Yards, specialist shipbuilders. In addition, Aker Kværner became a minor shareholder in the Finnish engineering company Aker Arctic in 2004. The new Aker Kvaerner started trading on Oslo Stock Exchange under ticker symbol 'AKVER' on 2 April 2004. In 2006, the company's paper/pulp and power businesses were sold to Finnish-based Metso in a deal worth €335 million. On 7 June 2007, an agreement was announced where a 40.1% stake of the company would be sold from Aker ASA to Aker Holding. The new company would be owned by Aker ASA (60%), the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry (30%), SAAB (7.5%) and