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 broadens ABL 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," says Reuben Segal, CEO of ABL Group. 

The acquisition also reinforces ABL Group's value commitment to technical and
service excellence, by adding 140 skilled consultants to the group's global
team. It will allow ABL 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 of ABL 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
increasing ABL Group's footprint within the opex-driven operations and
maintenance part of asset management," says Dr. R. V. Ahilan, chief energy
transition officer at ABL Group. 

Add Energy is headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, but its main operating hubs
are in Perth, Western Australia; Aberdeen, UK; Houston, USA; and Calgary,
Canada. 

In 2021, Add Energy delivered revenues of NOK 209 million.  The company has a
healthy order backlog of approximately NOK 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," adds Dr. Ahilan.  

Add Energy's management team will report to Dr. Ahilan, ABL Group's chief energy
transition officer and member of ABL Group's executive management team.

THE TRANSACTION
ABL 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 of NOK 20 million in ABL 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 on 1 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 to NOK 12.64, based on the
15-day value weighted average price of ABL Group ASA shares as of 8 July 2022.
Following completion of the share issue and relevant registrations, the share
capital of ABL Group will be NOK 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 into ABL Group will enable us to further
improve Add Energy's operational performance. It will enable Add Energy's team
to capitalise on ABL Group's systems, competence and client relationships, while
we add a couple of strings to ABL 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

About ABL 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.

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