Offshore staff
PERTH, Australia – Clough has agreed to sell its offshore Marine Construction Division to SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad for around $128 million in cash.
Facilities include the derrick lay barge Java Constructor and associated marine construction equipment. Also included are Clough’s interest in the Clough Helix joint venture, which operates the chartered vessel Normand Clough, and its interests in engineering consultants OFI and Peritus.
Committed contracts include Chevron’s Gorgon Domestic Gas pipeline project in Western Australia.
Post-transaction, the division will continue to operate from Perth and will stay focused on the Australian and regional markets. Clough will provide numerous back office services to the business for two years.
The Marine Construction Division reported an underlying loss of AUD7.6 million ($7.57 million) in the six months to end-December 2010.
Clough CEO John Smith said: “Whilst Clough has enjoyed a long history of successfully executing marine construction projects, it is a sector where significant capital investment is required to compete with the larger regional and global players.
“Our results have been lumpy in this division and consistency requires scale, flexibility of assets, and broad geographic coverage. We believe SapuraCrest will bring these characteristics and we wish them and the skilled workforce who will transfer every success for the future...
“Our strategy remains that of engineering-led EPC and this transaction leaves Clough with significant net cash and with capacity for further investment.”
08/09/2011
