Aberdeen oil services firm acquired in £450m deal

ABERDEEN-BASED oil services group Enermech has been bought by a US private equity giant in a deal it is thought was worth around £450 million.

Carlyle has agreed to buy Enermech from the Lime Rock Partners investment business in a move which signals confidence in the prospects for oil and gas markets.

It comes as the global oil and gas industry emerges from the long downturn that was triggered by the crude price plunge.

Confidence has started to return to the industry following the rally in the crude price since late 2016, amid moves by major exporters to support the market.

Enermech chief executive Doug Duguid said the firm’s lengthy track record in energy and the renewed confidence in that sector were significant drivers in attracting a heavyweight investor such as Carlyle Group.

Carlyle will make capital available to support further acquisitions to strengthen Enermech’s services portfolio and geographic presence.

“With the backing of Carlyle Group, which enjoys extensive relationships in the upstream and downstream sectors, we will be focused on doubling the size of the business in the next five years,” said Mr Duguid.

The deal will cement Mr Duguid’s standing as one of Scotland’s most successful company builders of recent years.

Mr Duguid founded Enermech in 2008 with the company’s chief financial officer Michael Buchan amid strong conditions in oil and gas markets. The firm won backing from Lime Rock for an expansion strategy which involved acting as a consolidator in what was seen as a fragmented oil services industry.

The downturn triggered by the sharp fall in the oil price from 2014 to early 2016 posed challenges.

Accounts filed last month showed the group’s UK revenues

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