Clyde & Co advises Lamprell on MIS acquisition

Clyde & Co LLP, has acted for London Stock Exchange listed oilfield services contractor Lamprell plc (Lamprell) on its USD 336 million acquisition of Oslo Stock Exchange listed Panamanian company, Maritime Industrial Services Co. Ltd. Inc (MIS).

Lamprell is a leading contractor in the Arabian Gulf providing specialist engineering services to the oil & gas & renewables industry. MIS is a diversified engineering and contracting group providing a broad range of products and services to the oil, gas and energy sector, operating primarily in the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. MIS divides its operations into six main business lines including new build; fabrication; upgrade and refurbishment; EPC services; H2S safety services; and technical services.

Chief Executive Officer of Lamprell, Nigel McCue, commented earlier on the transaction, "This transaction represents a significant step for Lamprell in its evolution as we continue to expand both the breadth and depth of our service offering and the geographical range of our customer base.

There is a strong complementary fit between Lamprell and MIS, enabling the enlarged group to pursue new opportunities with enhanced resource and technical competence. In particular, we see real competitive advantage in the companies' combined engineering offering as well as greater access to new business in the downstream and onshore sectors."

The Clyde & Co team was led by Corporate partner, Phil O'Riordan, assisted by Senior Associate, Sandeep Dhama, and Associate, Naji Hawayek. The transaction was supported across Clyde & Co's Middle East regional office network in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai and Riyadh.

Phil O'Riordan commented, "This was a significant deal between two of the leading players in the regional offshore oil & gas services sector. It has been favourably received by the market and is also indicative of the increased levels of M&A activity we are seeing across the region. This particular transaction required us to consider issues in jurisdictions ranging from Panama to Norway and right across the Middle East."

Ashurst acted as UK counsel to Lamprell on the acquisition and related Rights Issue. Freshfields acted for JP Morgan Cazenove as Underwriters. Linklaters acted as advisers to the syndicate of banks.