An Aberdeen-headquartered group of companies that provide subsea and non-destructive test equipment, geotechnical services and offshore personnel has been acquired by Venterra Group.
Venterra, the offshore wind services firm founded by former Petrofac chief executive Ayman Asfari, 66, has acquired Oceanscan Holdings which was founded in 1989 by 73-year-old Ken Hunter.
The deal includes Oceanscan subsidiary companies Hydrographic Personnel Resources based in Inverurie, Geoforce Technical Services in Suffolk and Sercal Non-Destructive Test Equipment near Birmingham.
The value of the deal was undisclosed.
Venterra’s acquisition of Oceanscan has been underpinned by a fifth successful equity raise, including General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero and First Reserve’s further equity investment of £30 million, as well as through securing access to £110m of bank facilities from HSBC, NatWest, Rabobank and Citibank to facilitate future growth.
The latest deal comes after a series of buyouts including Scotland’s FoundOcean, as well Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG), Ordtek and Partrac.
Venterra’s recently appointed chief executive Ed Daniels , said: “Oceanscan’s extensive fleet of high-quality sensing equipment and in-depth geotechnical experience supports our aim of providing the most technologically advanced and complete set of development services and solutions to the offshore wind industry.”
Oceanscan chief executive Derek Donaldson said: “Joining Venterra gives us a bigger platform from which to grow faster and across an even wider range of offshore wind markets.
“Combining our specialist equipment and geotechnical experience with the expertise that exists within Venterra means we will be able to offer an even more robust set of survey and geosciences services with greater international reach.”
Hunter, the managing director of Oceanscan, added: “Oceanscan’s history and core values of safety, innovation and continuous improvement align fully with Venterra. I am proud of the journey that we’ve taken, and I look forward to watching the company’s future get even brighter under the leadership of Derek and the Venterra team.”
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