Aberdeen firm Integrated Subsea Services (ISS) unveiled an acquisition in Australia yesterday plus expansion in south-east Asia through the opening of a new office in Singapore.
ISS, which provides expert diving, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and survey services for a broad range of subsea oil and gas projects, said it had bought certain assets of Submec, based in Perth, Western Australia, for an undisclosed sum.
Under the deal, ISS will take over two Triton XLX ROVs and associated business worth about £4million a year.
It also involves the transfer to ISS of all 55 offshore and onshore workers employed by Submec in the provision of systems, personnel and services to the subsea sector operating offshore Australia.
ISS founder and managing director Ian Herd said: “Submec was keen to refocus on the delivery of tooling services.
“This presented us with a golden opportunity to acquire their ROV service business, which is one of our main focus areas and where we are now a market leader.”
To further its expansion ambitions in the fast growing south-east Asia subsea oil and gas market, ISS has opened an office in Singapore and appointed an area manager, business development manager and diving operations manager.
ISS now employs more than 650 people worldwide at bases in Aberdeen, Singapore, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Australia.
Mr Herd said: “On the back of client demand, we have been investigating the potential in south-east Asia for some time.
“There is a real need for an independent provider of subsea services there and we anticipate deriving significant growth by filling this gap.
“Currently, 80% of our business is in the North Sea but we are forecasting increasing our international business from 20% of turnover to 40% in the next three years.”
ISS had two ROVs generating about £2.5million of sales in its first year after being set up by Mr Herd and fellow director Bruce Webster, with help from the bank, in 2002.
It now owns and operates a modern fleet of 23 ROVs, all capable of providing advanced field-construction, inspection and drill-support services around the world.