Norvestor buys Read Cased Hole

As part of the deal, the GP acquired a 95% stake in the business via Norvestor VII and Norvestor VII OS funds, while the management team will retain the remaining 5% stake. Existing investors Energy Ventures and Viking Ventures fully exited their stake in the business.

According to a statement, the company aims to use the capital injection to consolidate its market position through the expansion of its product offering as well as its geographical reach. Moreover, Norvestor partner Tor Erling Gunnerød was nominated chairperson at Read Cased.

The deal marks the fifth investment for Norvestor VII, which held a final close on its €510m hard-cap in February 2016. The fund manager completed the first buyout in December 2015 with the acquisition of a 70% stake in Norwegian soft facility management services provider 4Service in December 2015.

Norvestor backed the MBO of oil services business provider HydraWell in May 2016, and in July it acquired an 80% stake in Norwegian energy service supplier Eneas Energy from Palamon, in a deal valuing the business at €80.5m. The GP also acquired Norwegian oil and gas preservation and corrosion protection company Presserv in an MBO reportedly valued at around NOK 200m in November 2016.

Previous funding
In May 2010, Energy Ventures, through its Energy Ventures III fund, and Viking Ventures, via its third vehicle, acquired a majority stake in the business through the holding company Read Well Service Holding, in a deal valuing the company at NOK 170m.

According to unquote" data, Maven Capital Partners provided a €6.76m mezzanine loan to the company in October 2015.

Company
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Aberdeen, Read Cased provides intelligence services focusing on safety and integrity of wells mainly for the oil & gas industry, including barrier inspection, leak detection and environmental measurement.

The company posted pro-forma revenues of £5.5m in 2015 and employs 33 people.

People
Norvestor Equity – Tor Erling Gunnerød (partner).
Read Cased Hole – Roy Martin (CEO).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• Industrials
• UK / Ireland
• United Kingdom
• Norvestor
• Energy Ventures IS
• Viking Venture A/S
• Secondary buyout