The head of structured finance with the Royal Bank of Scotland in Aberdeen has left to head up a new oil service group.
John Heiton is now chief executive of Offshore Container Holdings (OCHL).
He has also become a director of OCHL’s two recent acquisitions: Containental Offshore, of Aberdeen and London-based Offshore Containers. They were bought for more than £10million.
Mr Heiton, 32, now based at OCHL’s Dyce headquarters, will initially concentrate on growing the group’s development beyond the North Sea, while also extending its range of offshore products.
Mr Heiton said that OCHL had access to considerable resources from its shareholders, and would look to expand both organically and through targeted acquisitions in the UK and overseas.
He said: “We believe that the topside equipment rental and services market is currently fairly fragmented and we intend to identify opportunities to develop our offering into areas where we can improve the overall quality, service and cost to the end customer.
“Our approach is to identify experienced management teams in related sectors or areas, who have already established a strong market position, so we can assist them to develop further within their industry through access to our additional skills and resources.”
Mr Heiton added that OCHL would shortly announce significant new capital investment at Containental Offshore.
OCHL’s chairman is Alan Dargan, founder of Lansdowne Capital, a London-based private-equity firm which led the formation of OCHL.
He said: “We are delighted that John has agreed to spearhead the growth of the group. We have been impressed by his knowledge of the sector, his banking experience and his energy.
“In particular, his previous experience of having worked on more than 60 oil and gas acquisitions with a total value in excess of $5billion (about £3.3billion) made him the ideal candidate for the significant acquisition focus of this role.”
The OCHL group employs 15 people and it is expecting turnover approaching £10million this year.