The Aberdeen office of Simmons and Company completed four deals in the first quarter of 2012, worth a total of £340million, one of the group’s bosses said yesterday. Nick Dalgarno, Granite City-based managing director for the specialist energy-sector corporate-finance adviser, also reported one of the strongest pipelines of deals in the firm’s history in the UK.
Completed deals in the first quarter included the sale of Inverurie-based Zenith Oilfield Technology to Lufkin Industries Holdings UK – a subsidiary of Lufkin Industries, of Texas – in a deal worth about £80million. Simmons acted for Zenith in the transaction.
US firm Tetra Technologies sought Simmons’ services in its acquisition – for at least £40million – of Aberdeen-based rig cooling services specialist Optima Solutions in March.
Simmons also advised Phoenix Equity Partners in its acquisition of Great Yarmouth firm Gall Thomson Environmental.
Details of the fourth deal were not disclosed, although a spokeswoman for Simmons said it was not a local one for the Aberdeen office.
Mr Dalgarno said: “Following a strong first quarter, we have several deals nearing completion and more on the horizon – all of which paint an exciting picture of a very buoyant market.”
Simmons in Aberdeen completed 22 deals worth a total of nearly £620million last year.
Globally the firm completed 46 mergers and acquisitions transactions and 16 equity and debt deals.