11 July 2022 -ABL Group ASA (formerly AqualisBraemar LOC ASA) has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in energy and engineering consultancy Add Energy. The acquisition broadensABL Group's service offering, enhances recurring revenue services in the opex phase and gains entry into digital optimisation, carbon storage and energy efficiency services that are crucial to the energy transition. "ABL Group has traditionally been more exposed to the capex-driven field development part of offshore energy industries. We are through this acquisition gaining additional exposure to the opex-driven side of offshore energy industries, including decarbonisation and life extension work. This reflects our commitment to transitioning all areas of energy and oceans to net-zero, including oil & gas. Put simply,ABL Group's total addressable market has suddenly become a lot bigger," saysReuben Segal , CEO ofABL Group . The acquisition also reinforcesABL Group's value commitment to technical and service excellence, by adding 140 skilled consultants to the group's global team. It will allowABL Group to expand its service offering in asset integrity management and OPEX services within both offshore renewables and oil and gas. Add Energy also brings numerous fully developed software solutions that can be applied to several parts ofABL Group , including our businesses working in the renewables and maritime industries. ABOUT ADD ENERGY Add Energy offers solutions and specialized consultancy services to the energy industry. The company's solutions are supported by a unique toolbox of proprietary software and analytical tools, developed in partnership with industry and academia. The company's two major business lines are asset integrity management, which is provided across a wide range of industries, and well engineering, management, control and servicing to assure safety, regulatory compliance and efficiency in operators' drilling, production and decommissioning projects in the oil and gas industry. The company also offers safety and risk management consulting. "Our objective is to capitalise on Add Energy's world leading subsurface competence and apply it to new segments such as CO2 storage, while building on its impressive position on how to make well operations safer and with reduced environmental footprint. Further,ABL Group's extensive footprint in renewable energy technologies brings huge potential for Add Energy to accelerate its growing energy transition offering. We also want to employ their specialist asset integrity management competence across numerous sectors with a view to increasingABL Group's footprint within the opex-driven operations and maintenance part of asset management," says Dr.R. V. Ahilan , chief energy transition officer atABL Group . Add Energy is headquartered in Stavanger,Norway , but its main operating hubs are inPerth, Western Australia ;Aberdeen, UK ;Houston, USA ; andCalgary, Canada . In 2021, Add Energy delivered revenues ofNOK 209 million . The company has a healthy order backlog of approximatelyNOK 190 million . Add Energy - Key financials (NOK million) Year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021* Revenue 312 343 304 291 209 EBITDA (adj) 24 11 13 19 -9 * Preliminary accounts "It is fair to say that Add Energy recently has underperformed financially. However, we share a large amount of common clients, and we know that there are great value creation opportunities in translating their regional based business to our extensive global office network.ABL Group has a proven track record of scaling up consultancy businesses, to the benefit of clients, and we will apply this successful blueprint to Add Energy too," addsDr. Ahilan . Add Energy's management team will report toDr. Ahilan ,ABL Group's chief energy transition officer and member ofABL Group's executive management team. THE TRANSACTIONABL Group has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares in Add Energy. The share purchase will be settled through a minor cash consideration to Add Energy's shareholders.ABL Group has also entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all interest-bearing debt in Add Energy through a consideration ofNOK 20 million inABL Group ASA shares that will be issued to Add Energy's main lender. These shares will be subject to a lock-up of 2 months from issuance. The new shares will be issued by the board pursuant to the authorization granted by the annual general meeting on1 June 2022 that enables the company to issue shares as complete or partial settlement for or financing of mergers or in connection with acquisition of companies, businesses or assets. The share issue will require a deviation from shareholders' pre-emption rights, in line with the authorization granted by the general meeting. The subscription price per new share has been set toNOK 12.64 , based on the 15-day value weighted average price ofABL Group ASA shares as of8 July 2022 . Following completion of the share issue and relevant registrations, the share capital ofABL Group will beNOK 9,950,486.20 , divided on 99,504,862 shares. The transaction is expected to close within the next days. "Bringing Add Energy's competence intoABL Group will enable us to further improve Add Energy's operational performance. It will enable Add Energy's team to capitalise onABL Group's systems, competence and client relationships, while we add a couple of strings toABL Group's bow. Together, we aim to provide a highly differentiated offering to our clients," says Dr.Ole Rygg , CEO of Add Energy. (ENDS) For further information, please contact: Investors and financial media:Haakon Brandrud , Director of Strategy and Corporate Development Tel: +47 95 07 05 12 Other media enquiries:Endre Aaberg Johansen Tel: +47 41 61 06 05 Email: endre.johansen@corpcom.no AboutABL Group ABL Group (OSE:ABL Group ASA - ticker code "ABL") offers independent energy and marine consultancy to the global renewables, maritime and oil and gas sectors. The group has offices in 38 countries worldwide.ABL Group operates under six brands: ABL, OWC, Innosea, Longitude, JLA, East Point Geo and ABL Yachts.
Click here for more information
© Oslo Bors ASA, source