Feb 22 | 2022
Acquisition Is Part of Breakbulk Line's Wider Plan to Focus on Renewable Sector
Wilhelmsen has bought a 21 percent stake in Reach Subsea, a marine services subcontractor specializing in remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles.
The breakbulk shipping line sealed the deal by acquiring shares in the company worth 150 million Norwegian Krone, about US$16.9 million, via private placement, with an option to boost its stake to 33 percent as part of a 3-year warrant exercise agreement.
The acquisition is part of a wider agreement between the two companies to launch and commercialise the Reach Remote subsea concept.
The concept’s Unmanned Surface Vehicles, or USVs, will be operated from onshore control centres and used as mobile power banks, data centres and communication modules for Reach’s underwater remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs.
The first two modules are expected to be ready in 2023.
“We have been actively assessing the subsea market to find a company that could add complementary scale to our ambition within renewables,” Jan Eyvin Wang, Executive Vice President, New Energy at Wilhelmsen.
“We see potential to grow within emerging sectors such as offshore wind, subsea cables and other offshore electrification infrastructure, carbon storage and deep-sea mining. Through their strong customer relations, extensive experience and cutting-edge technology gained from offshore oil and gas, Reach Subsea is an ideal partner.”
Reach Subsea operates mainly in the oil and gas and renewable energy sectors, recently expanding into survey and data processing capabilities to support its core business of ROVs and autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs.
For Wilhelmsen, the Reach acquisition is part of broader plans to focus more on sustainability and decarbonisation.
Last March the shipping line launched its New Energy division to steer the company away from mainly oil and gas related activities towards renewable energy. The operator is targeting US$500 million worth of investments in the renewables sector over the next five years.
IMAGE CREDIT: Reach Subsea
We caught up recently with Frederic Fontarosa, Wilhelmsen’s VP for the Middle East, Africa and Indian sub-continent, to talk about the revival in Middle East projects. Check here to read.
