Two European fleets of crane barges are set to be merged with the takeover by Italian offshore contractor Saipem of the oil platform building division of French construction firm Bouygues Construction.
Bouygues Construction agreed to sell Saipem its 50.8% in Bouygues Offshore in May 2002. This deal was cleared by the European Commission competition authorities on 3 July and Saipem has subsequently filed a standing offer for the remaining shares held by the public.
Saipem, a unit of Italian energy company ENI SpA, provides construction and other services to the oil and gas industry. In its fleet are crane barges including the Saipem 7000 which has a lifting capacity of 14,000t. Saipem’s net income for 2001 was about Euro 168m and it won contracts during the first half of this year worth more than Euro1.2bn. Bouygues Offshore SA, which had net sales of Euro 46m last year, also has crane barges as well as pipelaying vessels and drilling rigs with heavylift cranes on them.
