Maersk to Acquire Offshore Training Company ResQ

A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) announces an intended acquisition for its subsidiary Maersk Training of the Norwegian company, ResQ, a supplier of safety training and emergency preparedness in Norway.

ResQ has five survival centers in Norway to cater for training in the North Sea and offers more than 70 course titles, while the crisis management part consists of a full emergency response setup. ResQ has 67 permanent employees and over 300 temporary resources spread across the country.

"ResQ is a well-managed business with renowned competencies within training services. As part of Maersk Training’s ambitions to become a leading training provider with end-to-end services across the North Sea region, we regard ResQ as a perfect fit, as it will significantly increase our presence in Norway and increase our portfolio of training courses," said David Skov, CEO of Maersk Training.

Maersk Training and ResQ have a close relationship today with ResQ being the largest third-party service provider for Maersk Training in Norway. Since 2019, ResQ has been a subcontractor of Maersk Training delivering services to support the Maersk Training’s global training management contracts.

"We are looking very much forward to becoming part of Maersk Training and believe combining our businesses will significantly strengthen our value proposition to customers. Together we can provide a full end-to-end offering and further evolve our crisis management services to digital platforms which will allow us to expand to other industries as well as to international customers," said Njål Arne Vathne, CEO of ResQ.

"There is a growing potential serving the offshore renewable energy industry in the North Sea which is constantly evolving, not least with the recent North Sea Summit in Esbjerg where it was agreed to target 65 gigawatt installed before 2030 and 150 gigawatt installed by 2050. Also, new advancements in technology will allow for larger wind farms to be built further offshore that use bigger and more powerful turbines than current models," Skov said.

The enterprise value of the transaction on a post IFRS 16 basis is approximately US$26 million (pre-IFS16 enterprise value of c. US$14 million) reflecting a pre-synergy EBITDA multiple of 5.3x based on adjusted 2021 EBITDA. Completion of the acquisition is subject to regulatory review and approval.