DUBAI: A consortium of Gulf-based investors including Fajr Capital and Arab Petroleum Investment Corp (APICORP) have agreed on a deal to acquire Dubai-based oilfield services firm National Petroleum Services, Fajr said yesterday.
The transaction, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014, is valued “in excess of $500m”, it said in a statement.
It was reported last November that a Gulf consortium led by Fajr and also containing APICORP and Saudi-Arabia based investment holding company Zamil Group were in advanced talks over a deal worth between $500m and $700m. This followed an unsuccessful attempt to sell NPS to Norway’s Aker Solutions in 2012. While Fajr didn’t specify how much of NPS the group was buying nor who the selling shareholders were, the statement said some of the current shareholders would retain a minority stake, including Abdul Aziz Al Dolaimi, who would continue as chairman.
In a separate statement to the Saudi stock market late on Monday, Saudi Advanced Industries Co said it was selling its 20 percent stake in NPS for $110m. It would book a SR7.3m ($1.95m) loss on the investment due to unrealised profits and investment costs incurred since its initial $100m investment, the statement added.
NPS chief executive Adnan Ghabris will remain in his role, with the management team unchanged. Reuters
