Marine engineering services firm James Fisher and Sons has completed the sale of Aberdeen company RMSpumptools for £90 million.
Dyce-based RMS designs and manufactures completion systems and components for electrical submersible pump applications in the oil and gas industry.
It employs about 130 people – including about 40 in Aberdeen – across operations in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The business is now owned by US-headquartered oilfield technology company ChampionX.
‘Key inflection point’ for Fisher
Fisher said all conditions of the sale, including merger control clearance in Saudi Arabia, had been satisfied.
Jean Vernet, the Cumbria-based group’s chief executive, added: “The completion of the sale of RMS is a key inflection point for James Fisher. It significantly strengthens our balance sheet and will enable us to continue to deliver the business turnaround, investing in our core portfolio and the innovative new technologies that will deliver future growth.
“I would like to thank the RMS team for their contribution over the past 20 years and wish them every success in their new future with ChampionX.”
RMS’s bosses staying on
Earlier this year Fisher said RMS managing director Doug Harwell, finance director Martin Marsh and sales director Ted Boueri would stay on after completion of the sale.
It also said the disposal was in line with its strategy to “simplify and focus” its portfolio.
RMS was created in 2009 through a merger of two Fisher-owned businesses, Pumptools and Remote Marine Systems.
Estimates for last year suggest the firm generated revenue of £43m, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation of £12m and operating profits of £11m.
Dyce firm boasts assets of £26m
As of December 31 2023, RMS had total assets of around £26m.
ChampionX, headquartered in Woodlands, Texas, employs more than 7,300 people across operations in 60-plus countries.
Its UK locations already include a base in Aberdeen, on Peterseat Drive in Altens.
© Supplied by ShutterstockThe company describes itself as “a global leader in chemistry solutions, artificial lift systems, and highly engineered equipment and technologies that help companies drill for and produce oil and gas safely, efficiently, and sustainably around the world”.
RMS will be integrated into its production and automation technologies (PAT) division.
‘Growth opportunities’
Sivasankaran Somasundaram, president and chief executive, ChampionX, said: “By adding RMSpumptools technology to our PAT portfolio, ChampionX advances its ability to deliver greater value to customers while creating growth opportunities in international markets such as the Middle East, Latin America, and global offshore projects.”
© Supplied by ShutterstockIn April it emerged ChampionX is itself being acquired by US energy services giant SLB – formerly Schlumberger – in an all-share deal worth more than £60 billion.
That deal is expected to complete later this year.
So, by the end of 2024 RMS will be part of a global group which in 2023 employed around 111,000 people and turned over about £26.4bn.
According to Houston-based SLB, oil and gas industry customers will benefit from “the enhanced portfolio, geographical reach and technology innovation”.