Engineering and construction group Costain has snapped up 75 per cent of Aberdeen-based energy engineering consultancy ClerkMaxwell for £3.2 million.
ClerkMaxwell’s management team of five will share approximately 70 per cent of the money paid for the business they started less than three years ago.
Costain also has the option to acquire the remaining 25 per cent of ClerkMaxwell’s shares.
ClerkMaxwell, a provider of front-end engineering and operations support services to clients in the upstream oil and gas sector, posted revenues of £4 million in 2010.
The acquisition will enable Maidenhead, Berkshire-based Costain to broaden its existing front-end consultancy, project delivery and operations & maintenance offering. ClerkMaxwell, which employs a total of 50 people, will be integrated into Costain’s Energy & Process division.
Commenting on the acquisition, Andrew Wyllie, Costain’s CEO, said: "We are delighted to have acquired ClerkMaxwell. It is absolutely in-line with our strategy of broadening our existing front-end consultancy, project delivery and operations and maintenance offering through a combination of organic development and acquisitions.
“ClerkMaxwell is a fast growing business and will add complementary capabilities to our existing operations in the oil and gas sector, enhancing the full-service offering we can provide to our blue-chip customers."
John Wilson, managing director of ClerkMaxwell, added: "Costain is the perfect home for ClerkMaxwell. We will bring additional skills and reach to an already strong oil and gas capability and Costain's established customer base will provide a major opportunity for us to realise our ambition of becoming a market-leading provider of value adding, front end engineering services."
