Oakley buys Videotel and Seagull, Herkules exits

Kenny Wastell
14 May 2019

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Oakley Capital has acquired maritime training companies Videotel and Seagull from listed trade vendor KVH Industries and Herkules Capital respectively.

The transaction, following which both businesses will merge, values Videotel at $90m. No valuation has been disclosed for Seagull, though the consolidated group will generate revenues of around $50m, according to a statement issued by the acquirer. Videotel generated operating income of $3.1m from a turnover of $17m in the year ending in March 2019, according to a separate statement.

Oakley drew capital for the investments from its newest flagship vehicle, Oakley Capital IV, which has raised more than €1bn in commitments to date, according to the statement.

The sale of Videotel forms part of KVH's strategy to divest non-core assets and focus on its maritime mobile connectivity and navigation systems. The vendor first acquired the business in 2014 in a deal valued at £28.7m.

The deal closely follows Seagull's bolt-on of fleet management software provider Tero Marine at the end of April.

Previous funding
Herkules bought Seagull for around €100m in 2015 through Herkules IV, a NOK 2.5bn buyout fund that closed in 2014, short of its NOK 4bn target. It acquired the firm from GMT Communications Partners, which acquired the business from its management team in 2012.

Company
Founded in 1973, London-headquartered Videotel is an online provider of management software training for the commercial maritime sector. The business consists of the Super Dragon, Videotel Marine International, Videotel Training Services, Videotel Consultants and Rentals, Videotel Marine Asia and Videotel PTE brands.

Seagull provides computer-based training systems for the maritime and oil and gas industries. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Horten, south of Oslo, with additional offices in Germany, Greece, Japan, Poland, Singapore and the UK.

People
Oakley Capital – Peter Dubens (managing partner).
KVH Industries – Martin Kits van Heyningen (CEO).
Seagull – Oscar Johansen (chairperson, founder); Roger Ringstad (managing director).
Videotel – Raal Harris (managing director).