Calgary Herald

Excelsior has new parent, but keeps name, office

Venezuelan buyer has engineerin­g sector experience

- DAN HEALING DHEALING@CALGARYHER­ALD.COM

AVenezuela­n engineerin­g and constructi­on company announced Monday it is taking over Excelsior Engineerin­g Ltd., but will allow it to continue to operate under its own name from its Calgary head office.

Vepica Grupo Internacio­nal said in a news release Monday that it had purchased a “controllin­g” interest in Excelsior through its Canadian subsidiary.

No purchase price was revealed, nor did the release say how big Vepica’s share will be.

“This is a fantastic opportunit­y for both to undertake new projects both in Canada and around the world,” said Miguel Bocco Jr., chairman of Vepica, in the statement.

“Vepica brings to Excelsior a massive amount of oil and gas expertise as well as power generation and infrastruc­ture experience and Excelsior comes in with an impressive experience and reputation in the execution of upstream projects in Canada.”

On its website, Excelsior lists a series of pipeline, compressor station, gas plant and oil battery projects it has completed.

Vepica’s website lists oil, gas, chemical and petrochemi­cal projects, including refining, crude upgrading, oil facilities, process and compressio­n of gas, pipelines, and distributi­on and storage of hydrocarbo­ns.

“Vepica is just the relationsh­ip Excelsior has been looking for to bridge the gap between its strength in streamline­d project execution and the ability to transition into a broader base of opportunit­ies for continued profession­al growth and developmen­t,” said Excelsior president Daniel Clarke in the same news release.

Both Clarke and chief executive Ali Derakhshan were in Venezuela Monday and unavailabl­e for comment.

Vepica is a 40-year-old company with more than 1,000 employees and offices in Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, United States and Canada. Excelsior is a 10-year-old engineerin­g, procuremen­t and constructi­on management firm with nearly 100 staff, it said.

 ?? Herald Archive, Bloomberg ?? Both Engineerin­g Ltd. and its buyer, Vepica Grupo Internacio­nal of Venezuela, have worked on energy pipeline projects.
Herald Archive, Bloomberg Both Engineerin­g Ltd. and its buyer, Vepica Grupo Internacio­nal of Venezuela, have worked on energy pipeline projects.

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