Lamprell uses rights issue to acquire peer
BRITISH oil services firm Lamprell has agreed to buy Gulf-based peer Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) in a deal worth £208m.
The Isle of Man-based firm will use a rights issue, debt and cash to acquire the Norwegian-owned rig maker.
The fully underwritten issue will offer new shares of the company at 232p per unit to raise as much as £139.4m.
Cash from existing resources and funds from a new $150m (£92.6m) loan facility will also be used to make the acquisition.
The deal to buy MIS will give Lamprell the opportunity to expand its geographical range, at a time when interest in offshore drilling is picking up.
“Strategically the MIS deal makes sense and if market forecasts are accurate, it certainly looks good value for Lamprell,” said Brewin Dolphin analyst Greig Aitken.
Lamprell chief executive Nigel McCue said: “This transaction will rapidly create value for our shareholders and demonstrate the merits of bringing together these two businesses both through new business opportunities and operational and financial synergies.”
ADVISERS: BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH
RUPERT HUME-KENDALL
MERRILL LYNCH
BANK of America Merrill Lynch advised Lamprell on its takeover of Maritime Industrial Services.
The team from the bank was led by chairman of global equity markets Rupert Hume-Kendall.
A veteran banker, Hume-Kendall has enjoyed a prolific City career. In 2008 he came 67th in a poll of the City’s 1,000 most powerful people. In the same year, he helped RBS to complete a £12bn rights issue to fix the troubled bank’s battered finances.
He joined Merrill Lynch in 1998, where he has since been heavily involved in advising Santander, WPP, 3i and British Airways.
Lamprell was also advised by JP Morgan and HSBC.
By Scarlett Archer