Mammoth year in 2018
Mammoth finishes 2018 with acquisitions
Mammoth Energy Services Inc. ended 2018 with moves to expand its electrical infrastructure repair and installation business.
Mammoth Energy Services Inc. made a big lift in December to prepare it for the future. The company announced Wednesday it completed a series of transactions to acquire two aerial firms in a move designed to help continue to grow Mammoth’s electrical infrastructure repair and installation business. “Our long-term goal is to build a world-class operation, primarily involving transmission and distribution systems in the continental United States,” Mammoth CEO Arty Straehla said. “These acquisitions are a huge step for us ... That’s where we think our growth opportunities are going to come.” Mammoth acquired Air Rescue Services and entered into a joint venture with Wexford Capital to acquire Brim Equipment Leasing in deals totaling $7.9 million, the company said. Those deals closed Dec. 21. Brim, officials said, has been working with Mammoth subsidiary Cobra Acquisitions in Puerto Rico the past year, providing it with wire and pole aerial lift services. They said Brim is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to operate helicopters that carry external loads, haul passengers and disperse agricultural products.
Officials said that Air Rescue Services, meanwhile, offers a wide range of services in the Pacific Northwest, including aerial surveillance, offshore hoisting operations, training services, search and rescue operations, and transportation services.
“They do a lot of safety training on helicopter platforms, and that is part of what attracted us to that investment,” Straehla said.
Work in Puerto Rico
Mammoth formed Cobra Acquisitions in 2017, and its first major job involved a $200 million contract it entered into with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in October of the same year.
The authority hired Cobra to help restore critical electrical transmission and distribution systems destroyed by Hurricane Maria.
About a year ago, that contract was expanded to about $500 million, and two months later, Mammoth announced the contract had been amended again to increase its size to $945 million.
Then at the end of May, Mammoth announced Cobra had been awarded another $900 million contract.
While that contract called for Cobra teams to complete restoration work on the island, it also engaged the firm to do work intended to strengthen Puerto Rico’s power grid to help it withstand future storms.
Straehla said much of that work involves replacing older poles and hardware with up-todate materials. And he anticipates Cobra, which has about 550 employees working in Puerto Rico now, will have an opportunity to bid on future contracts as the project advances during the next five years.
“Our crews are continuing to execute at a very high level,” he said. “We are very pleased with how everything is going and believe we will be a strong contender as more contracts are let.”
Other projects
Straehla and Don Crist, Mammoth’s director of investor relations, also noted that Mammoth is bidding on about $3 billion in pending projects involving investor-owned utilities throughout North America that aim to upgrade and improve existing transmission and distribution systems.
In that business, helicopters are used to pull line between poles and to set poles, particularly in rough terrains. They also are used to carry out vegetation management efforts along transmission line routes.
Brim is operating six helicopters that make up Cobra’s air fleet after the acquisitions. Three of those will continue to support Cobra in Puerto Rico, Straehla and Crist said.
Remaining resources will give Mammoth a competitive advantage as it bids upon future work, they said.
Making Cobra a “onestop-shop” removes any uncertainties potential customers might have about project delays caused by a lack of available aircraft, Mammoth’s CEO said.
“When we bid transmission work, we have the helicopters to back us up,” Straehla said. “This is a very strong, strategic fit for us, because it is a platform we can continue to grow.”