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SembMarine to Take Full Control of PPL Shipyard

Sembcorp

Published Aug 23, 2016 8:53 PM by The Maritime Executive

Singaporean rig builder Sembcorp Marine said it had agreed to buy the 15 percent of PPL Shipyard Pte Ltd it did not already own for about $115 million from PPL Holdings Pte Ltd and E-Interface Holdings Ltd.

"This will enable the company to optimally manage the businesses, finance and resources of PPLS, and fully align the latter's corporate strategies to the company to generate sustainable returns," Sembcorp Marine said in a statement.

PPL Shipyard, 85 percent owned by SembMarine, designs and builds oil rigs and ships. The acquisition will enable the company to optimally manage the businesses, finance and resources of PPLS, and fully align the latter’s corporate strategies to the company to generate sustainable returns, said Sembcorp Marine.
 
In 2001, the company made an initial 50 percent investment in PPLS. In 2003, it increased its stake to 85 percent. Over the years, the investment in PPLS has helped it become a global player in the design and construction of jackup and semi-submersible rigs. Between 2001 until 2015, PPLS made cumulative profits of over S$1.6 billion. 

Last week, SembMarine, which has been suffering from a slump in orders due to low oil prices, agreed to buy Norway-based ship design firm LMG Marin AS for $20 million. LMG is a naval architecture as well as ship design and engineering house headquartered in Bergen, Norway, with offices in Poland and France. Established in 1943, its extensive design and engineering portfolio spans floating structures, platforms and a wide variety of ship types, such as drillships, FPSOs, floating storage and offloading vessels (FSO), offshore support vessels (OSV), LNG carriers, LNG-powered ships, car ferries and cruise ships.

LMG originated several key designs adopted by Sembcorp Marine, including the next-generation Espadon drillship design; the FSO design used in the ongoing construction of the company’s newbuild FSO for deployment in the U.K. North Sea as well as the Gravifloat modular LNG and LPG platform solutions that are a cost-competitive alternative to FSRU, FLNG and land-based terminals.

In a separate statement, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd said it would receive about $51.8 million from the deal due to its 45 percent stake in PPL Holdings. It plans to use the net proceeds for working capital.