Merger Approved: Noble Denton, GL

The Norwegian cartel authority Konkurransetilsynet has approved the merger of Noble Denton with Germanischer Lloyd (GL). The two companies had announced their merger on 1 April 2009. Together, Germanischer Lloyd and Noble Denton will form a global technical assurance and consulting company to serve the oil and gas sector. The purchase of Noble Denton is the largest corporate acquisition in the history of Germanischer Lloyd.

Germanischer Lloyd and Noble Denton will provide consulting, assurance as well as project management on a worldwide scale especially for the oil & gas and renewable energy sectors as well as for the maritime industry. The spectrum of services ranges from design and construction, transportation and installation. The operational assurance services include regular integrity checks, plant safety analyses, risk management and performance assessments for both onshore and offshore installations. A key focus will be on mobile offshore platforms.

"With this merger, we are responding to the needs of our clients: the operators, financiers and underwriters of energy installations are increasingly faced with major technical, operational and environmental challenges in the course of their exploration programmes. We will now be able to offer our worldwide customers a single source of localized engineering, consulting and project management services, and thus become the premier global business partner in the oil and gas, renewables and energy supply markets," said Pekka Paasivaara, Member of the Executive Board Germanischer Lloyd, at a press conference in Houston during the industry show Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).

Both companies serve clients from the oil, gas and renewable energies sectors as well as contractors, shipyards, ship owners, consultants, designers and financial institutions across the marine and energy industries. With Noble Denton now on board, the workforce of Germanischer Lloyd will swell by another 900 to more than 6,400 employees in 80 countries.

Germanischer Lloyd, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and Noble Denton, headquartered in London, have followed similar growth strategies. Both organizations have conducted a number of acquisitions recently to complement their areas of expertise. Acquisitions by GL include the UK-based Advantica Group, PV Inspection based in Canada and the USA, Montreal-based Helimax, Trident Consultants based in Kuala Lumpur, US-based Materials Consulting Services, and International Refinery Services in Singapore. Noble Denton has strengthened its portfolio by acquiring Martech Unlimited, BOMEL Consultants, Intelligent Decisions, Poseidon Maritime Ltd., Lowe Offshore International Inc., Standard Engineering and Brevik Engineering.

(www.gl-group.com)
(www.nobledenton.com)