An Oxfordshire stately home owner has taken over an international engineering giant that is battling bankruptcy.

Kristian Siem bought North Aston Hall from the Anglo-Norwegian Kvaerner Group two years ago.

Now he has become chairman and chief executive of the company, which employs 35,000 people worldwide and 7,000 in the UK.

The Kvaerner Group avoided bankruptcy last week when its largest shareholder, Russian oil company Yukos, which has 22 per cent of the equity, organised a debt restructuring plan and a £100m rescue issue of shares.

But shareholders have yet to approve the plan.

It has not been supported by the company's second largest shareholder, Aker Maritime, which has 17.8 per cent of the shares.

The luxury house was once the family home of Lord Longford. It was formerly used by Kvaerner for executive meetings and training sessions.

A spokesman for Kvaerner said: "When Mr Siem bought the house he had nothing to do with Kvaerner. It was an arm's length sale.

"He was neither a creditor nor a shareholder at the time. He became a director in May this year."

He added: "Now he has put a lot of money into the rescue rights issue of shares and may become a major shareholder in future.

"We have a pretty complicated period ahead of us and Mr Siem has taken on the job for a transitional period.

" He was chosen as chairman and chief executive because he is intensely involved in what is going on and he is also very committed to the company."

Employees' jobs depend on the success of the rescue plan being approved by shareholders this month.

Analysts say that Mr Siem, chief executive of Norwegian oil and gas drilling company Siem Industries, faces a major challenge in trying to restore confidence among customers and suppliers of crisis-torn Kvaerner.

Mr Siem, 51, also serves on the boards of several multi-national organisations.

Previously, Mr Siem has also held numerous directorships with major international companies in the maritime, oil and gas and insurance industries.