Bosses at Aberdeen oil and gas industry remotely operated vehicle (ROV) company STS will share about £8million following a deal to sell the company to Australia’s Neptune Marine Services.
Directors William Rodger and Aberdeen-based Barry Stewart were among those who led a management buyout to acquire a majority 50.1% stake in Bridge of Don-based STS in April 2008, when Edinburgh-based merchant bank Quayle Munro cut its 93.3% holding to 49.9%.
Quayle Munro said yesterday it had agreed a deal to sell the company to Neptune for £16million, with adjustments for working capital and debt and for STS’s earnings in 2009. In 2007, STS achieved pre-tax profits of £1.1million.
The transaction is expected to be completed by October 31. A spokesman for Quayle Munro confirmed management would receive half the proceeds from the sale and said he believed Neptune planned to continue growing the business.
STS, which employs around 100 – mainly contractors – owns and operates a fleet of ROVs providing specialist subsea services to oilfield engineering services businesses and oil majors.
It has clients worldwide, including in Europe, the Middle East and south-east Asia, and besides Aberdeen has offices in Bahrain and Singapore.
Neptune, with its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia, provides integrated solutions to the international oil and gas, marine and renewable energy industries. It employs more than 600 people in Australia, the UK, US and Asia.
Its services include subsea and pipeline engineering, commercial diving, specialist fabrication, inspection, repair and maintenance, ROV and vessel supply, hydrographic surveying and geophysical services, project management, rope access and dry underwater welding technology.
Neptune already has two north-east subsidiaries – Neptune Ross Deeptech of Stonehaven, which it bought for about £11million at the end of 2007, and Aberdeen firm Subsea Engineering Services, which it acquired for more than £10million in July last year.