Singapore’s offshore rig builder Sembcorp Marine Ltd will buy Norway’s LMG Marin AS $20 million, getting hold of a cache of design patents and expertise in naval architectural design, engineering and technology development.
Bergen-based LMG is a naval architecture as well as ship design and engineering house, with its project portfolio spanning 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 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, customized for operation in Brazil and West Africa, is another notable LMG creation, Sembmarine said.
Following the acquisition, LMG becomes an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine.
“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.”