Aberdeen businessmen John “Tiny” Langler and Graham Birnie have acquired most of the business in the UK and overseas of Aberdeen-based oil and gas service company Nexus Assurance, and announced ambitious growth plans.
Nexus will now trade as Nexus AB, providing quality assurance and risk mitigation services to the international oil and gas industry. The company has a team of 10 people in Aberdeen and a further five overseas in Malaysia and Norway.
Its turnover for 2009-10 was £3million and chief executive Mr Birnie said yesterday the target was to double that in 2010-11. The new owners also plan to take on additional staff, including graduate engineers, and will aim to have up to 20 in the near future.
Mr Langler and Mr Birnie previously owned Walker Technical Resources, which they built up into a successful international operation specialising in composite pipe repairs for the oil and gas industry. The business was sold in a management buy-in last April in a multimillion- pound deal.
They have self-financed the deal for Nexus, for an undisclosed sum, and banking facilities are being provided by Bank of Scotland.
Mr Birnie said: “Nexus has existing contracts with a number of blue-chip clients including Shell, BP and ExxonMobil and an excellent reputation for supporting technically complex, challenging well programmes.
“There are great opportunities for us to expand the business globally and we will use the experience we have built up to focus on our international growth strategy.
“We see our key markets as Brazil, West Africa, Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East and will be pushing hard to secure work in these areas.”
Nexus, based at Carden Place, delivers supply chain assurance, regulatory compliance and technical integrity services to the oil and gas industry. Its consultants specialise in the support of technically complex, high-pressure/high-temperature and new technology-based well programmes.
Mr Birnie added: “Exploration and production companies engage complex, global supply chains. Any failure of services or products to perform to expected levels or conform to stated requirements can be catastrophic, presenting risks to safety, schedule, budget and reputation.”
Mr Birnie said: “We learned a lot at WTR about creating strong partnerships with our clients, entering new international markets and diversifying and our intention is to use all that experience at Nexus. We are looking forward very much to working with the team to take the business to the next level.”