OIL consultants Keith Wallace and Peter Kirkbride have banked £10 million by selling four-year start-up EPC Offshore to Costain, and both will remain at the helm of a new Costain division in Aberdeen.
Costain Upstream will bring together EPC Offshore with ClerkMaxwell, the engineering and support services provider acquired by Costain in 2011.
The new division will be led by Mr Wallace, 53, supported by John Wilson, the managing director of ClerkMaxwell, Mr Kirkbride, 55, the managing director of EPC Offshore, and Alistair Dornan of ClerkMaxwell as strategy director.
It will have a resource pool of over 350 people and provide services across the life-cycle of upstream offshore oil and gas assets.
EPC Offshore was established in 2009 as a field development and project management specialist providing client-side services to North Sea oil and gas companies, and has a workforce of 75 professional staff. Its boasts programme management expertise and the highly effective application of proprietary in-house systems and processes. Revenues were £11.7m and after-tax profit was £1.1m in the year to 31 July 2012.
Companies House filings show 60% of the share capital held in 'A' shares by Keith and June Wallace and 40% in 'B' shares by Peter and Janice Kirkbride. Costain said the value of the deal was an initial consideration of £9.6m plus £1m for excess cash.
Mr Wallace said: "We have ambitious plans and aim to be a significant entity in our sector, creating opportunity and value for all stakeholders as we continue to grow moving forward."
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