WHEN Alasdair Locke left the North Sea industry in 2008 he was £120 million richer having sold Abbot Group, the services company in which he still held a 12.9 per cent stake.

Since then, aside from calling fund managers “half-baked”, his most notable move was leading the £500m management buyout of petrol forecourt operator Motor Fuel Group. And earlier this year he picked up £64m from the sale of the Argenta insurance business he chaired.

He subsequently declared he would not invest in Scotland until the uncertainty surrounding a second independence referendum was cleared.

Five weeks after Nicola Sturgeon shelved a new referendum bill Mr Locke launched Well-Safe Solutions and a week later, the company has announced its first acquisition, that of plug and abandonment specialist Intervention Project Management (IPM).

It would seem that the asset most prized by Well-Safe was Phil Milton, the founder of IPM, who has been installed as chief executive of Well-Safe.

But in acquiring a business active in the decommissioning space, what Well-Safe has also got itself is market share, along with skilled workers and a viable service model.

With this acquisition, the company is closer to being able to offer a one-stop shop to operators, which is likely to be an enticing prospect.

After decades of deals in exploration and production, the relatively nascent decommissioning industry remains fragmented, with new companies established based on specific technologies. There are no dominant players, and this is what Well-Safe aims to change.

It has picked up nine staff from IPM, so still has a way to go if it is to reach its target of 400 employees with three years, but it has only been a week.

With a foot now firmly placed in an industry that is believed to be worth £1.7 billion this year alone, this acquisition serves to highlight the intent of Mr Locke and his associates.