Oilsands camp company bought by U.S. multinational

One of Alberta’s major oilsands accommodation companies has been bought for $367 million by an American multinational workforce housing firm.

Nisku-based Noralta Lodge Ltd., which operates 11 lodges and 7,900 rooms for workers across northern Alberta, was taken over by Houston’s Civeo Corp. in a deal completed last weekend, the companies said in a news release.

Civeo owns 19 lodges and villages in Canada and Australia with more than 24,000 rooms. This includes 11 lodges in Alberta, where Civeo has about 1,300 employees.

Noralta had $159 million in revenue last year. The purchase includes cash and shares that will result in shareholders in the corporation, owned by founder Lance Torgerson, controlling about onethird of Civeo’s stock.

Civeo president Bradley Dodson told analysts during a December conference call that among other benefits, the purchase allows further development of Noralta’s strong relationships with First Nations partners.

The company set up a joint venture with the Fort McKay First Nation in 2016 to run Noralta’s 3,000-room Fort McMurray Village, made up of five lodges for workers primarily at Syncrude and Suncor, and eventually grow into a major logistics contractor.

Noralta provided space north of Fort McMurray for residents fleeing the massive 2016 wildfires.

Despite the drop in oil prices, Dodson sees plenty of potential housing workers involved in oilsands maintenance, turnaround and expansion projects.

“Through this transaction, we are solidifying our position as a partner of choice for workforce accommodations in the Canadian oilsands and other places that we operate.”

Torgerson, who started Noralta as Kamp Keltor in 1997, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Dodson expected operational and corporate “synergies” from the deal worth $10 million annually by 2019, including additional purchasing power and the opportunity for efficiencies because both their Canadian headquarters would be based in the Edmonton area.