Member Article

Clarke Energy in key Bangladesh acquisition

Merseyside power plant specialist Clarke Energy has completed a key acquisition in the Bangladesh arm of Orient Power Systems.

The Knowsley-based group, which is part-owned by private equity firm ECI, has also acquired 120 employees at the Bangladesh operation.

Clarke Energy, which has a turnover of £207m, has also been appointed to supply, distribute and service GE Energy’s Jenbacher gas engine in Bangladesh, supporting more than 450 units already installed in the country.

The focus of the new operations will be to develop an advanced service infrastructure with in-country parts stockholding, train and develop the Bangladesh service team and expand Jenbacher’s installed base in the gas to power segment.

The Bangladesh operations will also benefit from their proximity to Clarke Energy’s existing operations in India and Bengali speaking team in Kolkata.

Bangladesh offers domestic reserves of natural gas used to deliver stable supplies of power for a number of years.

Clarke Engery believes the country offers “great opportunities” for reciprocating gas engine technology, particularly for the independent power producer and captive power plant segments.

Chief executive Jamie Clarke said: “This is an important milestone for Clarke Energy which will further expand our global operations and our presence in south Asia.

“There is a large Jenbacher installed base in Bangladesh and existing customers will benefit from our after-sales support ethos.

“It is our intention from the outset to focus on increasing in-country spare parts and service engineer coverage in order to help support the continuing high operational availability of Jenbacher units in Bangladesh.”

Compliance manager Alex Marshall added: “Through the acquisition, we aim to achieve a majority market share in Bangladesh, building on Orient Power’s share of about 45 percent. We target a market leading position in all countries in which we operate,”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .