The MBO valued Energy Cranes International Limited at £142m, £77m more than the valuation put on the company by LMS Capital in its 31 December 2007 results. In that year, Energy Cranes says, it achieved sales of £117m, a 16% increase on 2006 figures. EBITDA was up £2.3m, from £9.9m in 2006, to £12.2m in 2007. LMS increased its valuation of the company to £65m, from £31m at the end of 2006.
Energy Cranes was formed in 2003 when LMS acquired Sparrows Offshore, headquartered in Aberdeen, and several months later merged the business with American Aero and Titan Cranes, based in the Gulf of Mexico. LMS’s equity investment in the two transactions totalled £17.8m.
At the time of the sale, Energy Cranes chief executive John Jordan said, “.Our Energy Cranes, Sparrows Offshore and Aberdeen Hydraulics brands are trusted and relied upon by oil companies, drillers and marine operators: our mission now is to continue to build service excellence whilst innovating in product and service development—and adding new businesses to the group through further acquisitions. We have exciting near-term projects in the pipeline which will see us enter further new market segments.”
The first of these acquisitions followed swiftly on news of the sale, with the acquisition of Baricon, for £8.7m. Baricon was founded in 1988, and has developed a range of pipe and subsea cable laying equipment. Baricon showed sales on £4.5m in accounts to March 2007, and predicts sales of £6.1m this year. The deal will allow Energy Cranes to expand into a new sector of the offshore industry.
