AKER Solutions is selling its subsidiary Aker Marine Contractors (AMC) to Ezra Holdings in an equity and cash deal worth $250million.
Under the agreement, Aker Solutions will sell 100% of the shares in its wholly-owned subsidiary AMC to Ezra, in which Aker Solutions becomes a substantial shareholder.
In addition, Aker Solutions is transferring a 50% stake in the currently in-build Aker Connector installation vessel to the Singapore-registered group.
The Norwegian group says that the new “partnership” marks a “significant step” towards realising its ambition of developing a world class SURF (subsea umbilicals risers and flowlines) and floating production system installation specialist.
Ezra is being given access to Aker Solutions’ wide range of subsea and other products in this bid to create a leading force in the EPCI (engineering, procurement. commissioning and installation) market.
“AMC is a strong engineering and project execution organisation.
“By becoming part of Ezra, AMC will have access to a larger and rapidly growing fleet of installation vessels covering all IMR and SURF installation segments – including flexible and rigid pipelay with capacity up to 3,500m water depth, which will enable Ezra/AMC to compete with the world’s leading SURF contractors,” said Oyvind Eriksen, chairman of Aker Solutions.
“This will be a transformational move that will propel Ezra and AMC to jointly become one of the world’s top-five SURF contractors.”
Ezra operates in the offshore market under the EMAS brand name. EMAS is an integrated offshore support solutions provider for the oil and gas industry. The business was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Singapore.
While AMC’s foothold is primarily in Gulf of Mexico and Europe, Ezra has a strong position in Asia Pacific including Australia, as well as West Africa.
When teaming up for product deliveries combined with installation and subsea construction services, the partnership is also expected to benefit from Aker Solutions’ strong positions in Brazil and arctic regions.
Ezra operates a large fleet of offshore support vessels and is engaged in engineering, fabrication and offshore construction.
The Asia-Pacific company also operates approximately 30 anchor handling tugs (AHT), anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) and diving support vessels (DSV), and two accommodation barges through its offshore support division.
Together, Ezra and AMC will initially operate a fleet of five construction and SURF installation vessels, including the Norwegian company’s two current units – Boa Deep C and Boa Sub C.
The plan is to expand the fleet to ten “differentiated” vessels from 2013.