News Archive

Triton Group Holdings has just completed its sixth acquisition bringing the total of transactions, since forming early last year, to in excess of £70 million. 

The UK subsea technology group, headquartered in Aberdeen, has acquired US company Geoscience Earth and Marine Services, Inc., (GEMS) for an undisclosed sum.  

The  geologic, geophysical and geotechnical engineering consultancy group is located in Houston, has 30 staff with a turnover of around £5 million and has been involved in the majority of deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a significant number of projects in other oil and gas provinces around the world. 

GEMS’ founding director, Mike Kaluza, and Alan Young, will continue to manage the business and become shareholders in Triton Group through a cash and equity deal. 

Commenting on the deal, Martin Anderson – chief executive officer of Triton Group – said: “We are delighted to begin the new year with such a significant acquisition.  

“GEMS enjoys good market share and an excellent reputation in the industry. It is a well run business with an ambitious management team and strong employee base which makes a very welcome addition to the Triton stable. 

“We established Triton Group Holdings with a view to becoming a major subsea technology group and in less than a year we are well on the way to meeting that objective by creating a critical mass of subsea technology and expertise that is highly complementary. 

“The geophysical, geologic, and geotechnical engineering experience within GEMS adds to our capabilities, and linked to our products, will deliver real added value . 

“GEMS is an excellent fit with our strategy of creating a group of complementary product and consultancy / service businesses to provide a balanced model of risk and return. We believe that Triton will provide the right environment within which to grow GEMS and they benefit from the additional investment, Management skills and infrastructure available in Triton.” 

The founder of GEMS, Mike Kaluza commented, “GEMS was started in February, 1997, as a group of geologists with expertise in assessing shallow geologic processes relative to the drilling of exploratory wells, and the planning of field infrastructure and layout for development of found reserves.  In August, 1997, Alan Young joined GEMS on a part-time basis (while joining Marsco Engineers as well) to promote geotechnical engineering and its application to the integration with the geologic interpretations.  After the sale of Marsco in 2000 Mr. Young came on fulltime with GEMS and the group began to build the engineering services within the company.  Today GEMS employs some 14 geologist/geophysicists and 7 engineers all working together to develop a concise geologic and soils model that will benefit the oil industry in the planning, implementation, and construction of marine infrastructure to produce proven reserves in the oceans of the world.”  

Alan Young added “Our GEMS team has worked on many innovative, multi-disciplinary deepwater projects around the world.  We are very enthusiastic about joining the Triton Group and our joint opportunities to enhance our technical services.  Our clients are commited to deepwater.  As part of the Triton Group, our client commitment will be enhanced by improved and novel methods of acquiring and analyzing geoscience data in this challenging environment.   

Triton Group Holdings was formed in early 2007. Backed by Houston private equity firm, SCF Partners and supported by RBS, the company embarked on a highly ambitious strategy to become a global group focused on subsea technology and added value services. Perry Slingsby Systems (PSS), the world’s leading supplier of remotely operated technologies to the offshore industry, was the first company to join the Triton stable following a deal in February 2007. 

In April, the company acquired Sub-Atlantic Limited, a market leader in the design and manufacture of small to medium sized electric ROV systems components. Sub-Atlantic was a privately-owned company with a turnover of £12million and a staff of 40. 

Just four months later, Triton carried out its third and fourth acquisitions, buying Lowestoft company UK Project Support Limited (UKPS) and its sister company Subco for an undisclosed sum.  Between them, UKPS and Subco have revenues of £15 million and employ 20 people. However UKPS has one of the biggest databases of ROV and survey contracting personnel in the UK industry. 

In September 2007, Triton announced it had completed its fifth acquisition of the year, adding remote intervention equipment, support and rental firm Cynergetix Pty Ltd to the Group portfolio. The Singapore-based company has been a partner of PSS operating in the Asia Pacific region since 2005. It employs eleven people with a $5 (Singapore dollar) million turnover. 

Ends (03.02.08)

 Issued on behalf of Triton Group Holdings by The BIG Partnership. For more information contact Zoe Corsi on 01224 578172 or 07973983243