The Aberdeen office of Simmons & Company International said today it has reached $11billion (£6.8billion) in total deal value in its 11th year.
The specialist corporate finance adviser to the energy industry, which opened its doors in the Granite City in July 1999, hit the figure after closing recent deals including acquisitions for EnerMech and finance raising for flexlife.
Simmons has advised on many of the highest-profile transactions in the sector including assisting Petrofac with capital raising and restructuring prior to it becoming a public company, acquisitions of Wellstream, Vetco, Abbot and PSN, as well as assisting Expro with its deal for PowerWell.
Colin Welsh, chief executive of Simmons, said: “Our goal has always been to create value for our clients by helping them buy and sell businesses in the sector, or to raise the right kind of finance.”
He credited the late Matt Simmons – founder of Houston-based Simmons – with having the vision to foresee the growth in the energy business outside of the Americas and with setting up the business in Aberdeen.
Mr Welsh said: “The Simmons brand gave those of us who were around at the beginning an opportunity to show what we could achieve. I never would have imagined when we started that we would work on $11billion of deals in as many years.
“Back then the only private equity firm in town was 3i, and Bank of Scotland dominated the debt market. Today there are several private equity firms within a quarter of a mile of us and many new participants in the banking market.
“Many of today’s buyers and private equity finance are from overseas and we see this trend continuing, but we remain committed to local energy firms and Aberdeen as our home.”
Simmons was founded in 1974 in Houston. Focused from the start on the oil service industry, the firm grew rapidly alongside the sector. Simmons’ research efforts now take in upstream oil services, midstream and downstream, exploration, production, alternative energy, coal and the tanker industry.
Aberdeen was its first office outside the US city.
Originally based at 33 Queens Road, the firm moved to its current European headquarters in Waverley Place in 2008 to accommodate its growth.
Simmons opened its London office in 2003. This was followed by an office opening in Dubai five years later.
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