Fara Holdco Limited, the owner of the Bibby Offshore group of companies, has decided to merge Bibby with Rever Offshore AS.
Rever’s subsidiaries include Cecon Contracting AS, a subsea and offshore contractor with emphasis on smaller and medium size projects, as well as two vessel companies which own the Cecon Excellence and Cecon Sovereign.
The vessels are not yet completed with the Cecon Excellence expected to be delivered in Q1 2019 while the Cecon Sovereign is expected to be delivered in Q1 2020.
Bibby said last week that the combination of Bibby and Cecon Contracting would create a larger and more robust offshore installation delivery business both in the North Sea and internationally, currently focused on the Atlantic and Mediterranean regions.
According to Bibby, the combined company will continue to evaluate growth opportunities in its core diving and subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF) markets.
Executive chairman of Fara, Riulf Rustad , said: “This transaction builds upon the excellent track records of both Bibby Offshore and Cecon Contracting and brings them neatly together into a strong and focused group.
“The individual geographical strengths and subsea intervention skills of each business now allows the combined platform to offer a much wider range products and solutions to their customers.”
Howard Woodcock , chief executive of Bibby Offshore, added: “Combining Bibby Offshore’s traditional diving and North Sea strengths with the SURF, international and engineering talents of CECON creates an operationally and financially strong business capable of delivering even greater value to clients. This merger is a very exciting opportunity for us and represents a genuine win-win situation from which we can continue to build and grow a highly competitive and high quality business.”
The two companies have already agreed on the transaction which is expected to close soon.
Jo Braadlie , managing director of Cecon Contracting, said: “We are welcoming this new development, and look forward to exploring and developing a synergy providing added value, while at the same time enabling both parties to support each other with the view to taking on more and larger work scopes in a broader market.”