Reprinted with Permission from the Q3 edition of Maritime Professional
Order books for newbuilds have been strong this year.
After acquiring Bollinger’s
Bee Mar OSV
operating
company last year for $243 million,
Harvey Gulf In-
ternational Marine
again made headlines in May with
the signing of three agreements totaling $540 million for
construction of 14 new vessels. These and other orders
will keep yards such as
Eastern Shipbuilding Group
in Panama City, FL busy for quite some time.
LEEVAC
Shipyards
, another growing ship repair and building
company, answered calls from their customers for a
facility east of Lake Charles by acquiring the
Quality
Shipyards
subsidiary of
Tidewater, Inc.
(TDW). The
asset deal includes 35 acres on 2,500 feet of waterfront,
four drydocks, several cranes and 100,000 square feet of
covered production facilities.
Tidewater
stock is up about 20 percent this year, and
the company continues to focus on ownership and op-
eration of its multifaceted fleet serving the worldwide
offshore energy industry. Tidewater crews operate more
than 340 vessels, providing a wide range of services
in support of offshore petroleum exploration, field de-
velopment and production. In May, through a wholly-
owned subsidiary, Tidewater entered into an agreement
with HitecVision to purchase Norway’s
Troms Off-
shore Supply AS
(“Troms Offshore”). The acquisition
will expand Tidewater’s global footprint into the Norwe-
gian sector of the North Sea and supplement Tidewater’s
experience and vessel fleet operating in harsh environ-
ments, including cold climates. The approximately $395
million deal implies a multiple of earnings before inter-
est, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of
33X.
Another player that has been very acquisitive in build-
ing a marine energy presence is
NGL Energy Partners
(NGL), which most recently acquired the assets of
Cres-
cent Terminals, LLC
along with
Cierra Marine, LP
and its affiliated companies. The Cierra Marine acquisi-
tion doubles NGL’s current fleet of tow boats and crude
barges, while the Crescent facility adds 130,000 barrels
of storage capacity by Eagle Ford shale in South Texas,
and 20,000 barrels per day of capacity to reach markets
along the Gulf Coast. NGL has logged about $1.8 bil-
lion in acquisitions since its 2011 IPO, including Corpus
Christi boat and barge operator
Third Coast Towing
for
$43 million in cash and
Pecos Gathering & Marketing
in a $45 million private placement.
Woodlands, Texas-based
Arc Terminals
has made
at least six terminal acquisitions since 2007, and this
year announced the acquisition of marine terminal as-
sets from
Gulf Coast Asphalt Company
. The Mobile,
Alabama terminal added 1.2 million barrels of storage
and distribution capacity for third-party customers in as-
phalt, crude oil, HFO and methanol. Arc now boasts 5.5
million barrels of capacity around the US, and is pur-
