Norvestor acquires oil services firm Presserv

Mikkel Stern-Peltz
07 November 2016

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Norway-based buyout firm Norvestor Equity has acquired Norwegian oil and gas preservation and corrosion protection company Presserv in an MBO, reportedly valued at around NOK 200m.

Norvestor VII, the GP's 2015-vintage NOK 4.9bn seventh fund, will be tapped for the equity in the transaction, which sees Norvestor acquire an 80% stake in Presserv. The company's management will reinvest alongside the GP and will hold the remaining 20% of shares in the company.

While the GP did not disclose the deal value, Norwegian media reported the price to be around NOK 200m. Norvestor partner Tor Erlin Gunnerød will join Presserv's board as chair once the deal is closed.

Presserv is the second oil and gas services play by Norvestor in its most recent fund, having acquired HydraWell in May 2016. Both investments are bets on the oil and gas integrity and preservation sub-sector, which has generally been one of the few oil and gas service sectors to not have been severely affected by the drop in oil prices, as opposed to the overall North Sea extraction and production industry.

Investment in the preservation and integrity services sectors was predicted by Simmons & Company managing partner Nick Dalgarno in February 2015, in an interview with unquote": "Rust never sleeps," Dalgarno said at the time, quoting Matt Simmons, the founder of Simmons & Co. "You put steel structures in water and you can protect them, but they will eventually rust, so [they] will need to be repaired."

The North Sea oil and gas industry is a topic that unquote" has explored on multiple occasions, following the drop in crude oil prices that has put immense pressure on the high-cost production. For more on the topic, see Further reading at the bottom of this article.

Company
Presserv is a Stavanger-based provider of preservation and corrosion protection for applications in the oil, gas, shipping and storage tank industries.

The company had pro-forma revenues of NOK 96m in 2015, according to Norvestor, and predicts sales growth of more than 25% during 2016. It employs a staff of 26.

People
Norvestor Equity – Tor Erling Gunnerød (partner).
Presserv – Niklas Hermansson (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – SR-Bank Markets (debt); Kluge (legal).
Equity – Arkwright (corporate finance); Delphi (legal); PwC (tax); DNV-GL (commercial due diligence); Schjødt (corporate finance).