The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Oceaneering in £50m deal for subsea services firm
Move comes as Portlethen-based KCA Deutag bolsters position in Middle East
Engineered products and services giant Oceaneering has acquired Scottish group Ecosse Subsea Systems (ESS) in a £50 million deal.
The Aberdeen-headquartered group specialises in seabed preparation, route clearance and the laying of submarine cables and pipelines.
Oceaneering – which has a subsea cable manufacturing facility at Rosyth – said it had moved for ESS as it grew its green energy market presence.
ESS’s modular SCAR seabed system is among the prize assets that now fall into Oceaneering’s portfolio.
“We are pleased to complete the acquisition of Ecosse, which we believe offers Oceaneering the opportunity to expand our service line capabilities and grow our market position within the offshore renewable energy market, and provide our customers with proven tools to optimise installation projects,” Oceaneering president and chief executive Roderick Larson said.
“The addition of Ecosse reflects our commitment to expand into the adjacent renewable energy market to more comprehensively serve the offshore energy industry.
“We expect the acquisition to be accretive to Oceaneering’s 2018 cash flow and earnings.”
Mike Wilson, former chairman of ESS, said: “This is a strategic opportunity for our customers and our employees.
“Oceaneering has outstanding people, a global presence, innovative technologies and diversified services and products.
“Together we can establish a stronger platform to take on even larger and higher profile projects in the renewables and oil and gas industries.”
Meanwhile, north-east drilling and engineering contractor KCA Deutag has agreed a $320 million merger with Dalma Energy.
The moves relates to Dalma’s Omani and Saudi Arabian businesses and the combination will create an enlarged group with 9,700 employees globally and a combined order book of circa $6.3 billion.
KCA Deutag said “potential cost synergies” from the combination of the two businesses had been identified and “runrate cost savings” of more than $10m per annum are expected to be achieved.
Norrie McKay, CEO of KCAD, said: “The acquisition of Dalma’s operations in Saudi Arabia and Oman will significantly strengthen our foothold in the Middle East, and provide us with a stronger platform to develop and grow our business in what is an exceptionally attractive region.”