Dunedin's EV Offshore bolts on Epidote

Kenny Wastell
27 April 2016

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Dunedin portfolio company, EV Offshore, has bolted on oil- and gas-focused software company Epidote for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition of Epidote is designed to improve EV Offshore's ability to diagnose potential problems with oil or gas wells.

EV Offshore, which itself manufactures down-hole video cameras for oil and gas wells, undertook a £20m re-banking agreement with RBS in June 2014. The deal saw Dunedin transfer EV's acquisition finance facility out of its DebtBridge fund and over to RBS.

The bolt-on marks the 11th acquisition by a Dunedin portfolio company in the past year. Most recently, CitySprint – which it has since been sold to LDC in a £175m secondary buyout – acquired competitor Bexley Couriers.

The transaction also marks just the third European PE-backed deal in the oil and gas sector this year. The segment has seen a drastic drop in dealflow since the price of oil began dropping in 2014.

Previous funding
Dunedin acquired EV Offshore in a £69m secondary buyout from Lime Rock Partners in June 2014.

Lime Rock had invested £6m in the company in 2011, following which it undertook an international expansion strategy and increased its turnover twentyfold.

Company
Aberdeen-headquartered software developer Epidote was founded in 1999. Its products analyse and present oil and gas well integrity data.

People
Dunedin – Oliver Bevan (partner).
EV Offshare – Jonathan Thursby (founder, technical director).
Epidote – Steve Helmore (founder, managing director).