Norway-based Aker Solutions has announced that it will acquire NPS Energy from Dubais National Petroleum Services
Aker Solutions has agreed to pay an equity value of US$350 million and an additional $110 million in net interest bearing debt, depending on the capital expenditure in 2012.
NPS Energy has a strong presence in the MENA region, offering well intervention services, onshore drilling services and perforation equipment. The company represented a platform from which Aker Solutions could provide its broad portfolio of technology and services.
"In order to succeed in the region, we need a strong distribution platform and well-established customer relationships managed by a management team with a proven track record," said Aker Solutions executive chairman Oeyvind Eriksen.
"Basically, this is what we achieve by acquiring NPS Energy."
Aker Solutions has primarily focused on well intervention services in the MENA region. During the first quarter of 2012, the company announced contracts totalling more than $100 million, which included a deal for drilling equipment to be used in the Middle East as well as surface wellhead equipment to Bahrain and Egypt.
"Despite these recent successes and the fact that we have technology and products in our portfolio, which is highly relevant for oil and gas fields in the region, we have to admit that our success rate in recent tendering has been fairly low," Eriksen explained.
He predicted that the businesses that will benefit the most from the NPS Energy acquisition in the short to medium term would include the process technology business, the surface wellhead and equipment business, drilling equipment and engineering.
A new engineering office will be established in the UAE to unite the entire Aker Solutions offerings, Eriksen noted.
