High energy prices attract investors to oil & gas sector

The past few weeks have seen a glut of businesses operating in the oil & gas sector secure investment from private equity houses. The largest of these was Close Brothers Private Equity's (CBPE) £142m acquisition of Energy Cranes International from its parent, AIM-listed LMS Capital plc.

Energy Cranes provides crane-related services to the offshore oil & gas sector. The company had pre-tax profits of £2.7m on revenues of £114m in 2007. Shortly after the deal, CBPE backed Energy Cranes in the £8.7m acquisition of offshore crane and mechanical handling services contractor Baricon Systems.

Other deals in the oil & gas sector recently have focused on sub-sea vehicles used by the industry. Inflexion Private Equity backed the buyout of SMD, a manufacturer of sub-sea vehicles and Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance provided £80m of growth funding to Integrated Subsea Services, a provider of diving and remotely operated vehicle services to the offshore oil & gas industry.

Further down the deal spectrum, Scottish Equity Partners and Energy Ventures III invested £4m in oil & gas wells casing technology company Futuretec.

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