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Amec Foster Wheeler sells North Sea operations for £228m as Wood Group acquisition finalises

British multinational consultancy, engineering and project management company Amec Foster Wheeler has agreed to sell the majority of its UK North Sea operations to WorleyParsons Europe Limited for £228m, subject to closing adjustments.

The agreement coincides with Wood Group today completing its acquisition of Amec, thought to be in the region of £2.2bn.

Wood Group’s new ordinary shares will be admitted to the premium segment of the Official List and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange with effect from 8.00 a.m. (London time) today, 9 October 2017.

The two firms actually agreed the deal back in March this year although were locked in regulation talks in the months that followed after competition concerns were raised.

Robin Watson, Chief Executive of energy services giant Wood Group, is delighted to have officially completed the deal.

He explained: “This transformational acquisition creates a global leader in the delivery of project, engineering and technical services to energy and industrial markets.

“We become a business of significant scale and enhanced capability delivering services across a broader range of geographies and sectors, differentiated by the quality of our people, enabling technology and know-how.

“Wood is better placed to serve customers than ever before, with a more comprehensive range of capabilities and the potential to deliver efficient integrated solutions with fewer customer interfaces.

“We expect to deliver significant cost synergies and incremental revenue synergies in a less cyclical business which retains a predominantly reimbursable, asset light model with a balanced risk appetite.

“Our integration planning is well progressed and we have ensured that appropriate risk management and control processes are in place from Day 1. We have a clear organisational structure, my Executive Leadership team and their direct reports have been announced and we are now focussing on implementing a best of both approach for the wider organisation. “