On Monday 6 th October the Directors announced that Specialist Maintenance Services Ltd ( SMS) in Aberdeen, and its sister company Great Yarmouth based training provider, A1 Safety Training Consultants Ltd had been acquired by EnerMech Ltd.
EnerMech was set up earlier in the year by former PSL owners Doug Duguid, Michael Buchan, Derek Grant and Phil Bentley with a combined capital inve stment of more than £30 million by the four shareholders and private equity firm Lime Rock Partners.
Duguid and his three colleagues were part of the original MBO team which rescued Aberdeen based PSL from receivership in 2003 and transformed it in to an eastern hemisphere company with a £110 million turnover and 1200 staff, before selling to Halliburton four years later in a deal worth more than £120 million
Initially set up to target the North Sea equipment rental market, EnerMech has moved quickly to expand in to the cranes and lifting sector and training market.
Formed in 1988 in Aberdeen, SMS has 130staff working in the UK, Norway, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Malaysia and Singapore. The company specialise in Offshore crane and lifting operations including the design and implementation of large lifting and crane projects, to providing crane personnel and designing special purpose lifting equipment.
SMS joint managing directors, Bert Middleton and John Morrison and all senior management will remain with the new company, trading under the name EnerMech SMS.The company expects to expand their staff numbers considerable over the next few years there will be no job reductions in any area of the business as a result of the acquisition..
A1 Safety Training Consultants was established in 1995, has 35 staff and provide safety training for crane and lifting operations. The company has purpose built training facilities in both Great Yarmouth and Aberdeen where they also have a state-of-the-art crane simulator based.There will be no job losses and senior staff, including managing director Rod Leech and general manager Phil Caton, will remain with the new company trading under the name EnerMech-A1.
The acquisitions brings EnerMech’s payroll up to 200 and the company is currently in negotiations to purchase several overseas company.
EnerMech managing director, Doug Duguid, said: “These two deals are very good news for both the staff and customers of both SMS and A1. Our management team have a strong record in dynamic but managed growth and we are looking forward to bringing all that experience to bear in growing these new additions to the EnerMech stable.
“With more than £30 million at our disposal we have the resources to substantially grow these businesses through a combination of capital inve stment, rolling out new services and further acquisitions.
“The market segments we are targeting are quite fragmented and we have identified gaps where we think we can offer a lower cost and more responsive service than is currently being provided. We plan to deliver a much greater level of engineering and technical support than our competitors can offer.”
John Morrison, new managing director of EnerMech SMS, said: “This is an excellent opportunity for SMS to work with a management team who have a proven track record in service delivery and who have the contacts and experience to take our business to a new level. It’s a great fit for our management and staff who will benefit from new opportunities offered by working for such an ambitious, well resourced company.”
Rod Leech , who will be managing director of EnerMech-A1 : said: “We were impressed with the vision put forward by the EnerMech team and their plans for creating a new force in specialist training services. The deal creates many opportunities for everyone working at A1 and we are looking forward to being part of a forward thinking organisation with great plans to make a significant impact in international markets.”