Aker Maritime, the Norwegian oil and gas services group, has won the fight for control of Kvaerner, the troubled Norwegian engineering firm, after the company admitted it would not be able to push through an alternative plan.

The deal means that Kvaerner can press on with its Nkr3.5bn (€441m) equity issue, and will merge its oil and gas business with Aker's in a deal worth about Nkr3.6bn. Kvaerner will buy the assets from Aker for shares, giving Aker about 50% of the company.