Sembcorp Marine acquires LMG Marin AS
Sembcorp Marine Integrated Yard Pte. Ltd. (“SMIY”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine Ltd (the “Company”) has entered into a sale and purchase agreement with its existing shareholders to acquire a 100% equity stake in LMG Marin AS (“LMG”) for US$20 million (the “Acquisition”), the Company said in a press release.
LMG is a naval architecture as well as ship design and engineering house headquartered in Bergen, Norway, with offices in Poland and France. Established in 1943, its extensive design and engineering portfolio spans floating structures, platforms and a wide variety of ship types, such as drillships; floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSO); floating storage and offloading vessels (FSO); offshore support vessels (OSV); LNG carriers; LNG-powered ships; car ferries; and cruise ships.
LMG originated several key designs adopted by Sembcorp Marine, including the next-generation Espadon drillship design; the FSO design used in the ongoing construction of the Company’s newbuild FSO for deployment in the UK North Sea; as well as the Gravifloat modular LNG and LPG platform solutions that are a cost-competitive alternative to FSRU, FLNG and land-based terminals.
The Robusto FPSO hull design, customised for operation in Brazil and West Africa, is another notable LMG creation.
The consideration for the Acquisition, to be fully paid in cash by internally generated funds, was arrived at on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis, after taking into account (i) the estimated net tangible asset value of US$3.8 million as at 31 July 2016, and (ii) intellectual property and patents of LMG.
Following the acquisition, LMG becomes an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine. It brings into the Company a cache of design patents and expertise in naval architectural design, engineering and technology development.
“Through the strategic acquisition of LMG, Sembcorp Marine further strengthens its intellectual property and knowledge to execute leading-edge design and engineering solutions for the global offshore and marine sectors,” said Sembcorp Marine President and CEO Wong Weng Sun. “This in turn supports our ongoing efforts to move up the value chain so that we can compete better and do more for our customers and partners.”
The Acquisition is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of the Company for the year ending 31 December 2016.
None of the directors or controlling shareholders of the Company have any interest, direct or indirect, in the Acquisition.
Sembcorp Marine is a leading global marine and offshore engineering group with 49 years of experience and proven capabilities in the building of high-specification jackup rigs, the innovative fast-track construction of deep water and ultra-deepwater semi-submersible rigs as well as the EPC conversion of tankers to floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSO), floating storage and offloading vessels (FPO) and floating production semi-submersible rig (FPU).
