Norwegian offshore vessel operator Golden Energy Offshore Services (GEOS) has entered into a binding Memorandum of Agreement for the acquisition of four platform supply vessels and one subsea support vessel from subsidiaries of Vroon Holding B.V. for a total consideration of $94 million.
Dutch vessel owner Vroon earlier this year completed the implementation of the financial restructuring for the “new” Vroon focusing on specialized fleet of deepsea vessels (livestock carriers, product tankers, and high-heat tankers) and emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV).
As part of the restructuring, the majority ownership of Vroon has transferred to the company lenders, with the Vroon family retaining a small interest.
Vroon said in June that "the future of our 40 offshore support vessels (OSV) will be elsewhere, under new ownership. Several options to wind down this part of the fleet are being pursued, and we expect to inform you on progress in the coming period."
As for GEOS' acquisition of Vroon's offshore vessel quintet, GEOS said: "The fleet acquisition ensures considerable accretive growth of the company’s fleet of offshore supply vessels, greatly increasing the company’s ability to seize market opportunities within the oil and gas and offshore wind sectors going forward," Golden Energy Offshore Services said.
The four PSVs are of the same PX 121 design as GEOS’ existing fully-owned vessels, Energy Duchess and Energy Empress, providing flexibility in chartering as well as OPEX savings, GEOS said.
"The SSV VOS Sugar is a versatile, multi-purpose commissioning support vessel. With SPS class for 40 persons, capacity for a walk-to-work gangway and a small crane it has been used in both the oil & gas and offshore wind markets," GEOS added.
"All of the Company’s PX 121 vessels are large PSVs providing supply services to the oil & gas market but may also be outfitted with accommodation units and gangways to opportunistically serve the offshore wind market," GEOS said.
All five vessels acquired were built in 2015 and 2016, lowering GEOS’ average fleet age to 7.9 years.
The acquisition is expected to close around the end of September 2023, and a deposit of USD 9.4 million will be paid to the seller in early August, GEOS said.
Golden Energy Offshore Services plans to finance the Fleet Acquisition through a combination of debt and new equity.