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ket activity for related products and services. Marine geotech- nical leader Fugro NV acquired England?s EMU Limited, a $26 million consultancy specializing in marine environmental survey and analysis, to expand its offshore environmental ser- vice offering. In February 2012, marine-heavy private equity group JF Lehman & Co. picked up three oil spill response divisions from Seacor Holdings for $97 million in cash. An- other private equity player got in on the environmental equip- ment side, as UK-based Phoenix Equity Partners bought Gall Thompson Environmental (GTE) for about $118 million, or 7.4 X EBITDA. GTE is a global market provider in the sup- ply of safety-critical ?marine breakaway couplings? to the off- shore oil and gas industry. The increased attention to subsea engineering and monitor- ing solutions has generated nancial activity in an interesting market subsegment: Remotely Operated Underwater Vechi- cles (ROV?s) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV?s). These two closely-related equipment categories enable the engineering and installation of more environmentally-friendly structures and pipelines, as well as ongoing subsea ecosystem monitoring. A number of transactions taken place in the seg- ment in the past year, as depicted below: The long list of subsea transactions continues to grow and the market will likely continue to strengthen as drilling picks up along the Gulf Coast and worldwide offshore production remains robust. Safety FirstMarine safety requirements have been slowly tightening, and a few new requirements will force many maritime compa- nies to spend time and money to bring their eets into compli- ance. A couple of marine safety-related deals recently include JF Lehman portfolio company Drew Marine?s acquisition of marine safety and signaling-focused Chemring Group PLC for about $51 million; and Canada?s Survival Craft Inspector-ate?s purchase of the RocLoc cruise ship evacuation product line from Mad Rock Marine Solutions . In the near future, ?Subchapter M? rules in the US will require tug operators to enhance their safety plans and equipment, creating opportuni-ties for consulting rms and safety product providers. Also look for electronic charting and display (ECDIS) mandates to phase in worldwide, likely driving equipment deals in bridge technology. Trends and Outlook In a more general sense, different segments of the maritime industry have experienced divergent nancial performance over the past ve years. All companies were hit to some de- gree by the nancial crisis, but since that time the mostly energy-related inland/offshore segment has performed better than both the bulk and containership sectors as shown in Fig- ure 1. The graph clearly shows the prolonged troubles in the bulk industry and that trend was re ected in the divestiture of United Maritime Group divisions this year, with three major subsidiaries selling to different buyers. Overall M&A activity has leveled out in 2012 after a post- nancial crisis recovery in 2010 and 2011, and seems to be on track for a similar number of deals this year as last. The data in Figure 2 re ects marine, ports, shipbuilding and marine equip- ment deals, and shows an overall deal ow that has returned to pre-crisis levels. The importance of Europe in worldwide maritime operations and nance make market forecasting dif- cult as the EU continues to struggle with debt and currency issues, but the driving factors of regulation and environment will ensure a compelling level of deal ow, regardless of the economic direction in 2013. Oceaneering International acquired subsea pipeline in- spection and engineering company AGR Field Opera- tions for $240 million in December 2011. BlueÞ n Robotics acquired ROV developer Hawkes Remotes in late 2011 (undisclosed terms). Houston based FMC Technologies completed its $281 million acquisition of ROV producer Schilling Robotics in April 2012. American Moog, Inc. acquired Scottish ROV/AUV equipment provider Tritech International Limited in 2012 for about $33 million. TritechÕs trailing 12-mo revenues were $19 million. Oaktree Capital took a 62.5% stake in Scotland-based Integrated Subsea Services (ISS), a provider of special- ist diving and ROV services to the offshore industry. Teledyne RD Instruments bought BlueView Technologies, producer of compact high-resolution acoustic imaging and measurement equipment deployed on AUVÕs. The Author Harry Ward leads the transportation and logistics practice at The McLean Group, a middle-market investment bank based in the Washington, DC area. Mr. Ward has executive management experience in the marine industry and focuses on mergers and acquisitions for mid-sized companies. He is a US Naval Academy graduate and earned an MBA at San Diego State University. www.maritimeprofessional.com | Maritime Professional | 57MP #4 50-63.indd 57MP #4 50-63.indd 5711/12/2012 10:11:05 AM11/12/2012 10:11:05 AM
