4 July 2008 - Aker Solutions has acquired the shares in Qserv Ltd., a leading provider of well, process and pipeline services in the North Sea and International markets.
Qserv is a privately owned company established in 2001. The company has approximately 400 employees, of which 250 work offshore. The company is headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, and is a leading, independent provider of well intervention services on the UK Continental Shelf. Qserv has also operations in West Africa, Middle-East and South East Asia. The company provides a range of well, process and pipeline services encompassing wireline, coil tubing, fluid & nitrogen pumping, subsea well intervention, leak testing, bolting and pipeline commissioning services. Revenues in 2007 were approximately NOK 500 million, expecting to grow substantially over the next years.
The total consideration consists of an initial payment of approximately NOK 1,000 million and a deferred payment due in 2011.
"The demand for well services has developed favourably in recent years and we expect the positive development to continue. We have strong growth ambitions within this segment and the acquisition of Qserv is an excellent opportunity to complement and extend our technology base", says Mads Andersen, executive vice president of Aker Solutions.
The strategic fit between Qserv and Aker Solutions' well intervention business is strong with complementary footprint and technology portfolios. The two companies are already cooperating on the delivery of integrated intervention services across a variety of disciplines including wireline tractor services, logging services and light well intervention vessels.
"The combination of Aker Solutions' well service unit and Qserv creates the leading provider in our range of services throughout the North Sea. This reinforces our position in the home market and generates unique opportunities whilst accelerating our international growth. The market is increasingly asking for deliveries of an even more complete range of products and services. We firmly believe that this acquisition will enable us to achieve further growth prospects and open up new industrial opportunities as we go forward", says Ole Petter Thomesen, President of Aker Well Service in Stavanger, Norway.
"This is an exciting time in the development of the Qserv business and generates amazing opportunities for staff and clients. The combination of our service offering, geographical spread and aligned business ethics creates seamless synergies. This acquisition allows Qserv to further enhance our portfolio of services to our existing UKCS clients to include the full range of wireline tractor and wireline logging services. Additionally, it allows us to enhance our position in the market place, and maintain our key strengths as the local service provider. For clients and staff, it will be business as usual, the management team remain the same and we are firmly committed to growing the Aker Solutions and Qserv range of services to be the prominent North Sea provider along with being an internationally recognised brand. I look forward to further developing the business across the North Sea and other international markets as part of Aker Solutions", says Ciaran Dreelan, Well Services Director of Qserv.
"This acquisition is about creating a new business capable of offering a combined range of services across the globe to meet our client's current and future demands, in a market place where resources are tight and costs are high", says Tommy Dreelan, Managing Director of Qserv.
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Media:
Siw Anett Enerud, communications manager, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 22 94 71 92, Mob: +47 95 19 34 15. e-mail: siw.anett.enerud@akersolutions.com
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Lasse Torkildsen, SVP investor relations, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 67 51 30 39, Mob: +47 911 37 194
Lasse Torkildsen, SVP investor relations, Aker Solutions. Tel: +47 67 51 30 39, Mob: +47 911 37 194
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Aker Solutions ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Solutions"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. Aker Solutions' business serves several industries, including oil & gas, refining & chemicals, mining & metals and power generation. The Aker Solutions group is organised in a number of separate legal entities. Aker Solutions is used as the common brand/trademark for most of these entities.
Aker Solutions' parent company is Aker Solutions ASA. Aker Solutions has aggregated annual revenues of approximately NOK 58 billion and employs approximately 24 000 people in about 30 countries.
Aker Solutions is part of Aker (www.akerasa.com), a group of premier companies with a focus on energy, maritime and marine resource industries. The Aker companies share a common set of values and a long tradition of industrial innovation. As an industrial owner controlling 40.27 percent of the shares in Aker Solutions through Aker Holding AS, Aker ASA takes an active role in the development of Aker Solutions.
This press release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to our disclaimer, see www.akersolutions.com.
Note to Editors:
Qserv was founded in November 2001 and specialises in well, process and pipeline services for the global oil and gas industry. The company offers a range of services including, coiled tubing, pumping services, wireline services, subsea well intervention, process services and pipeline services.
Headquartered in Aberdeen, Qserv currently employs almost 400 people with continuing operations in UKCS and Europe, Equatorial Guinea, Qatar, Azerbaijan and the Ivory Coast. Plans are now firmly in place to grow this substantially, particularly in the Middle East, West Africa and Asia Pacific, to match the extensive growth the business has seen in the North Sea.
The company is a specialist "independent" service provider whose vision is to listen, concentrate and focus on the needs of its client and put quality and service at the core of all it does and all it aims to achieve. It was recently listed in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 list has been awarded a Five Star Rating from the British Safety Council for Health & Safety Management.
To find out more, please visit www.qserv.com.