UK: Wood Group completes £2.2b takeover of rival

Energy services giant Wood Group’s £2.2 billion (US$2.9 billion) takeover of Amec Foster Wheeler is now officially complete.

The merger was wrapped up after Amec agreed to sell the majority of its North Sea operations to address Competition Markets Authority (CMA) concerns.

The deal will see Amec bank £228 million (US$299.9 million) for selling upstream oil and gas operations to Australian firm WorleyParsons. Wood Group boss Robin Watson described the merger as “transformational”.

The Aberdeen-based company said it did not anticipate any job losses in the north east of Scotland as a result of the deal. In 2016, Amec’s North Sea business contributed revenues of £740 million (US$973.3 million) and a trading profit of £43 million (US$56.6 million).

Mr Watson said:, “This transformational acquisition creates a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services to energy and industrial markets.

“We expect to deliver significant cost synergies and incremental revenue synergies in a less cyclical business which retains a predominantly reimbursable, asset light model with a balanced risk appetite.”

Full Content: Financial Times

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