Surface-to-seabed offshore technology company Seanamic Group is ready to swoop for more bolt-on acquisitions after completing the integration of Aberdeen firm Imes International.
Martin Barnes, who now heads up the whole group as chief executive after a spell as managing director of Imes, said Seanamic had pursued a number of potential targets over the past year.
“We expect to complete another (deal) within the next month and other small-type acquisitions within a year,” he added.
He was unable to go into detail about the next expansion move, other than to say the business involved had operations in Aberdeen and the US.
Seanamic’s acquisition targets “tend to manage equipment that works near the splashzone,” he added.
Mr Barnes, who remains MD at Imes, alongside his group role, was speaking as Seanamic unveiled a string of senior management changes.
He has taken over the top job from David Cooper, who had led the company on an interim basis since last year.
Mr Cooper has also stepped down as managing director of group subsidiary Caley Ocean Systems (COS) for an engineering advisory role.
Douglas Morrison, previously project director, is now at the helm of Glasgow-based COS, while Keith Hamill has been hired as sales director.
The group has also appointed Charlie Backhouse – previously of JDR Cable Systems – to lead the new UK office of Umbilicals International, which is headquartered in Houston in the US.
Seanamic chairman David Pridden, a past chief executive of Subsea UK, said Mr Cooper had shown “unstinting loyalty” to help both Caley and the wider group thrive during “turbulent times”.
Mr Pridden added: “Martin, Douglas, Keith and Charlie bring a wealth of experience to their new positions, and I look forward to seeing the group strengthen and grow under their leadership.”
Glasgow-based Seanamic provides products and services to the offshore energy, defence, seismic and oceanographic science industries, with systems designed for harsh environments a
speciality.
It is backed by Simmons and Company International, part of US investment bank and asset manager Piper Jaffray.
The group snapped up Imes – previously led by well-known north-east businessman Melfort Campbell, a former chairman of CBI Scotland – from administrators last year in a move saving all 49 of the Aberdeen firm’s employees.
Mr Campbell built up the company, which provides inspection and engineering services and monitoring and control systems for customers in the oil and gas and defence industries, from the mid-1980s.