Hallin Marine Subsea International and Superior UK jointly announced yesterday recommended proposals for an all-cash acquisition by Superior of the group in a deal valuing the business at £103.5million.
Superior UK is a wholly owned subsidiary of Superior Energy Services, of New Orleans, and was formed for the purpose of making the offer for Hallin, which provides services to the offshore oil and gas industry and has the headquarters of two of its four divisions in Aberdeen.
Hallin said its board and institutional investors representing an aggregate of 52.7% of its issued share capital had given Superior irrevocable undertakings to vote in favour of the 233p-a-share deal.
It said Hallin offered Superior the opportunity to enhance its position in the subsea well-service market through the combination of Superior’s well-intervention assets and Hallin’s subsea assets, new-build vessel programme and international infrastructure.
It added that in September it had stated its intention to “actively develop the company”, but while the current economic climate had resulted in exciting opportunities for Hallin to enhance its operations, it had become increasingly restricted by the lack of readily available finance.
Hallin said that by joining a financially strong and successful group, it would be considerably better placed to take advantage of opportunities in the near future.
It said that Superior UK did not intend to make any material changes to Hallin’s 200-plus staffing levels, nor to any conditions of employment, nor did it have plans to change the locations of Hallin’s places of business.
The British company’s chairman Tony Ebel said: “The board of Hallin believe this is an excellent deal for the company’s shareholders, for the company itself and for the company’s employees.
Terry Hall, chief executive of Superior, said: “In the short run, this transaction will provide us with more international penetration and expanded entry into the subsea field-development and installation market.”
Hallin Marine owns diving systems and remotely operated vehicles and has operations in south-east Asia, India, China, Africa, the Middle East, America, Russia, Australia and the UK.
It has four divisions – subsea operations west, based in Aberdeen and employing about 30 people; subsea operations east, based in Singapore; manufacturing, also in Singapore, and Prospect Flow Solutions, an energy industry engineering consultancy based in Aberdeen, where it employs 40, with offices in Derby, Houston and Singapore.
Hallin said last month it planned to double its workforce in north-east by the time it moved to a new purpose-built office, warehouse and yard at Westhill, near Aberdeen, in about 15 months Its Aim-listed shares soared 82% yesterday to close at 226p.
Recommended for you
