An Aberdeen firm whose parent collapsed into administration amid the growing oil and gas crisis is under new Indian ownership.
Energy sector engineering consultancy Project Development International (PDi) has been acquired by Tattva International Holdings, a Singapore-based subsidiary of India’s Tattva Group.
PDi was part of UK subsea company Ceona, which sank into administration in September.
The collapse of Ceona, which accounted for about 30% of PDI’s income, caused more than 100 job losses.
But PDi – acquired by Ceona in 2012 – stayed in business and recently announced a £1.5million contract in Nigeria on top of £6million of new business already secured during 2015.
Managing director Mark Gillespie keeps his job following the Indian takeover, which was for an undisclosed sum.
Former Ceona chief executive Mark Preece has a new role as PDi executive vice-chairman, with Tattva chairman Narayana Ramachandran becoming chairman.
The deal, handled by the Aberdeen office of Simmons and Company International, corporate adviser to the energy industry, includes all PDi assets that were held by Ceona and put under administration by professional services group EY.
Mr Gillespie said: “We are delighted to have a new owner who is aligned with our vision and strategy for the business, helping drive the firm’s growth and build on its successful track record.
“This is a new chapter for PDi, but it is still business as usual with our existing customers and we will continue to operate as an independent engineering and project management service provider.”
He added: “We are delighted to be continuing to work with Mark, who has good knowledge of PDi, its clients and the range of services we offer oil and gas companies and contractors.
“We have no plans to change our offering, name or branding, and we look forward to being part of a wider growing international oil services group.”
Chennai-based Tattva has been “exploring opportunities” to launch a services business in upstream oil and gas. The group also has interests in infrastructure, shipping, education and India’s healthcare industry, where it sees “enormous” potential.
PDi employs 90 people at offices in Aberdeen and London. It is more than three months late in filing its 2014 accounts at Companies House.
Figures for 2013 show pre-tax profits of £1.8million on turnover of £17.1million, compared with £2.1million and £17.8million the year before.
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