Keppel Corp News

Keppel Profit Soars on One-off Gain from O&M Unit Sale

Singapore's Keppel Corp KPLM.SI on Thursday reported a more than seven-fold jump in its first-half profit boosted by a one-off gain from the sale of its offshore and marine (O&M) unit and strong performance from the infrastructure business.Keppel sold its offshore and marine business in February for S$4.50 billion ($3.40 billion) to Sembcorp Marine, recognising a gain of S$3.3 billion, as it aims to transform into an asset manager overseeing $150 billion by 2030 and focus on green energy.It managed S$53.2 billion in funds as of June 30.In May…

Keppel's Profit Boosted by Sale of Offshore & Marine Business

Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp Ltd on Thursday posted a higher net profit for the first quarter, boosted by a significant one-off gain recognized from the sale of its offshore & marine unit.In February, Sembcorp Marine completed a S$4.50 billion ($3.37 billion) buyout of Keppel's offshore & marine unit after receiving the necessary shareholder approvals.Keppel recognized a gain of S$3.3 billion and received S$500 million of cash in the first quarter following the transaction, it said.The company did not disclose a profit figure, but said that revenue for the quarter was S$2.26 billion, u

Singapore's Keppel Completes $3.34B Sale of Offshore Unit to Sembmarine

Singapore's Keppel Corp said on Tuesday that Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) has completed a S$4.50 billion ($3.34 billion) buyout of its offshore & marine unit after receiving the necessary shareholder approvals. ($1 = 1.3484 Singapore dollars) (Reuters - Reporting by Jaskiran Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)Sembcorp Marine to Buy Keppel Offshore & Marine for $3.2B, Scraps Merger Plan

Sembcorp Marine to Buy Keppel Offshore & Marine for $3.2B, Scraps Merger Plan

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) scrapped a deal to merge with Keppel Corp's offshore and marine unit and form new company, in favour of directly buying the unit for S$4.50 billion ($3.19 billion), the Temasek-backed oil rig builder said on Thursday. The new structure also lowers the value of Keppel's unit by S$378 million from the S$4.87 billion valuation it got according to the terms of the previous agreement struck in April, Sembmarine said. This deal gives Sembmarine's shareholders a bigger stake –– of 46% stake…

Sembcorp Marine Cuts Losses as Easing COVID Curbs Aid Project Deliveries

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Ltd (Sembmarine) said on Friday its half-year loss narrowed 78% from a year earlier, as the oil rig builder finished delayed projects after pandemic curbs were eased while also benefiting from cost management.The company said its overall order visibility has improved on the back of rising oil prices and renewed concerns about energy security amid geopolitical tensions.Sembmarine has been a loss-making business since it posted an annual loss in 2018, in an industry plagued by oil price volatility, a drop in new orders, and the pandemic's impact.The company on Friday

Keppel Posts 66% Jump in First-half Profit

Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp on Thursday reported a first-half profit that rose 66%, helped by higher earnings across most of its main businesses and a rebound at its offshore & marine (O&M) unit.Keppel, which traces its roots to a small ship repair yard corporatized in 1968, has seen its renewable energy and asset management units bounce back this year, offsetting a decline in its urban development business."In an extended inflationary environment, demand for real assets with cash flow, such as those which Keppel develops, operates and manages, will continue to grow," Chief Executive

Offshore Rig Builders Keppel O&M and Sembcorp Marine Set to Combine

Singapore's Sembcorp Marine (Sembmarine) has agreed to a multi-billion dollar merger with Keppel Corp's larger offshore and marine unit, a year after the Temasek-backed firms began deal talks to cope with an industry downturn.The loss-making oil rig builders have been whiplashed by years of oversupply and oil price volatility as well as a drop in new orders.Such troubles have been exacerbated by the global transition towards renewable energy, consolidation at Chinese and South Korean rivals…

Keppel Offshore & Marine, Sembcorp Marine Working on Merger

Keppel Corp's offshore and marine (O&M) arm and smaller rival Sembcorp Marine are working towards having an agreement over their business unification in place by the end of April, the companies said on Thursday.The companies had first announced plans to combine their loss-making O&M businesses in June last year. The deal would see Keppel spin off the new business into a listed entity, with Singapore state investor Temasek becoming the largest shareholder in the combined company.

Singapore's Temasek Working with Portfolio Firms in Green Transition

Singapore state investor Temasek is working with its portfolio companies to help them become more green as advancing sustainability goals becomes the new normal, the firm's chief sustainability officer said on Thursday.Temasek, with a portfolio valued at S$381 billion ($278.81 billion) as of March, has committed more than S$2 billion this year to the decarbonization sector alone, Steve Howard told the Reuters Next conference."We want to work with those companies and help make sure that they are supported in having transition plans," Howard added.

Keppel, Sembcorp Marine in Talks to Merge Offshore and Marine Units

Temasek-backed Singapore conglomerate Keppel Corp and smaller rival Sembcorp Marine are exploring a potential tie-up which would see them combine their struggling offshore and marine (O&M) businesses after years of losses in an industry downturn.A successful deal would see Keppel spin off the new business into a listed entity and ultimately exit from the legacy business. Temasek would become the largest shareholder in the combined unit, while Sembcorp will also own a stake in it.Keppel's O&M unit…

Keppel in Talks with Petrobras to Build FPSO for Buzios Field

Singapore's Keppel Corporation has confirmed it has been in talks with the Brazilian oil company Petrobras to built an FPSO vessel for the Buzios field offshore Brazil.In a statement on Friday, responding to an article by Upstream Daily News, Keppel Corp. said: "The company wishes to confirm that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Keppel Shipyard Limited, is in advanced discussions with Petrobras in respect of a contract to build a floating production storage and offloading vessel for the Buzios field offshore Brazil…

Keppel to Exit Offshore Rig Building Business

Singapore's Keppel Offshore & Marine, a company famous for its offshore rig construction, is set to undergo a major transformation, look for opportunities as a developer and integrator of offshore energy and infrastructure assets, and exit the offshore rig building business.The company will be restructured into three parts, separating construction and ownership of legacy drilling rig assets from its core operations, "which will be slimmer, asset-light and people-light.""Keppel Corporation announced today that amidst the global energy transition and major disruptions facing the oil industry…

Keppel Starts Review of Struggling Offshore and Marine Business

Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp said on Tuesday it had identified assets worth S$17.5 billion ($12.8 billion) that could potentially be monetized, including through sales, and started a review of its loss-making offshore and marine (O&M) business.The plans unveiled on Tuesday are part of Keppel's 10-year strategy that it had flagged earlier this year to refocus its portfolio to energy and environment, urban development, connectivity, and asset management.Keppel said it was exploring options including strategic mergers and disposals for its offshore and marine business…

Rig-building Impairments Drag Keppel to 1H Loss

Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corp reported a loss in the first half of 2020 due to impairments in its offshore and marine business that has been battered by low global oil prices.Keppel posted a net loss of S$537 million ($390 million) for the six months to June, compared with a net profit of S$356 million a year ago.The company, whose businesses range from property development to rig-building, said it incurred impairments of S$930 million during the period mostly related to its offshore and marine business.The market is closely watching results for any breach of pre-conditions to state inv

Analysts: Temasek Might Drop $3B Bid to Acquire Controlling Stake in Keppel

Temasek Holding's $3 billion bid to acquire a controlling stake in Keppel Corp will be under scrutiny on Thursday as a big quarterly profit drop at the conglomerate could raise the risk of the state investor dropping its proposal, analysts said.Keppel last week warned that material impairments relating to its offshore and marine segment (O&M) would hurt profits, which analysts say could breach so-called material adverse change (MAC) clauses of Temasek's offer.Analysts said the impairments would typically affect net asset value and net profit after tax…

Temasek Supports Sembcorp Marine's $1.5B Rights Issue

Singapore's Temasek Holdings stepped in on Monday to support a S$2.1 billion ($1.5 billion) rights issue by Sembcorp Marine as the state investor moves to help the city-state's struggling rig-building sector.Following the deal, loss-making Sembcorp Marine, which has been hit hard by an industry downturn, plans to demerge from its parent company Sembcorp Industries."It's just the next step in Singapore's long overdue consolidation of the offshore and marine sector," said KGI Securities analyst Joel Ng.

Keppel O&M Says Pivot to Gas, Renewables Pays Off

Keppel Offshore & Marine, an offshore construction subsidiary of Singapore's Keppel Corp, expects challenging conditions ahead due to the drop in oil prices but says its business diversification into gas and renewables has paid off.The company has traditionally been called an "offshore rig builder" as this was the Keppel O&M's core business in the heydays before the 2014-16 collapse in oil prices when oil fell from over $100 a barrel to below $30.However, with offshore drilling rig orders dwindling…

Singapore Readies 'Floating Hotels' for Workers as Coronavirus Spreads

Singapore is preparing to house hundreds of foreign workers in accommodation vessels typically used for offshore and marine industry staff as it races to find alternatives to dormitories where the novel coronavirus has been spreading rapidly.Tens of thousands of migrant workers, many from South Asia, live in cramped dormitories across Singapore, which have become the biggest source of coronavirus infections in recent days.Authorities are moving some of the healthy residents of those facilities to other sites including military camps…

Temasek Bids $3 Bln for Control of Keppel

Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings is offering to buy control of conglomerate Keppel Corp in a S$4.1 billion ($3 billion) deal that could hasten a consolidation in the rig building sector which is battling the effects of low oil prices.The announcement, which confirmed what two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday, boosted shares in rig builder Sembcorp Marine by 12% on expectations of a likely shake-up in the industry. Shares in Sembcorp's parent Sembcorp Industries rose 10%.Keppel's offshore and marine unit…

Brazil Searches Sembcorp Yard in Graft Probe

Singaporean rig builder Sembcorp Marine said on Wednesday that authorities had searched its shipyard in Brazil as part of a graft investigation, sending its shares lower and underlining the staying power of Brazil's ongoing "Car Wash" corruption probe.Sembcorp Marine said the search was related to investigations against former consultant Guilherme Esteves de Jesus, adding that Martin Cheah Kok Choon, the former president of the Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz shipyard, was also under investigation.In a separate statement…

Keppel-Aibel Team Wins German Offshore Gig

Norwegian energy services provider Aibel AS and a unit of Singaporean conglomerate Keppel Corporation have jointly won a contract to deliver two converter stations as part of the DolWin cluster servicing German offshore wind farms.The grid operator TenneT Offshore has tasked Aibel and Keppel O&M, a unit of Keppel Corp, with the design, engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a 900-MW offshore High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) converter station along with an onshore converter station as part of the DolWin5 project.Together with its subcontractor ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri), the consortium will also undertake the installation and start-up operations of the offshore and onshore converter stations on site at Germany.Scheduled to be completed in 2024…

Keppel, Sembcorp Reach Deal with Embattled Brazil Firm

Singapore firms Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine said on Monday they had reached settlements with indebted Brazilian firm Sete Brasil over long-standing contracts to build drillships and rigs.Sete, which leased oil rigs to Brazil's state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016 after being engulfed in a massive corruption scandal.Keppel and Sembcorp Marine are among a host of firms caught up in the wide-ranging "Car Wash" investigation.

Keppel to Add 1,800 Offshore, Marine Staff

Singapore conglomerate Keppel Corp is planning to add 1,800 staff this year at its offshore and marine business, the first time the company is hiring for the division after cutting thousands of jobs since 2015.The slump in oil prices in 2014 and a global oversupply of drilling rigs had hit orders at the company's O&M division, but demand is slowly returning."With the expected increase in work flow as well as preparing for the upturn we would be looking to add to our (O&M) workforce this year," Keppel CEO Loh Chin Hua said at the company's results briefing.