GE’s Acquisition of Wellstream: Shaping a New Era in Subsea Oil and Gas Production

GE is pleased to announce that another significant milestone has been reached in its strategic acquisition of Wellstream Holdings PLC. This morning, Wellstream announced that the listing of its ordinary shares (“Wellstream’s Shares”) on the Official List had been cancelled and Wellstream’s shares ceased to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange as of 8 a.m. (London time).
As of the close of trading on March 4, 2011, GE, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, General Electric Austria GMBH, had received valid acceptances for 98.63 percent of Wellstream’s Shares. GE announced on February 16, 2011, that it had commenced the compulsory acquisition of Wellstream’s Shares from shareholders who have not yet accepted GE’s offer, which it expects to complete on or about March 30, 2011. The acquisition of Wellstream expands GE Oil & Gas’ extensive subsea manufacturing and services portfolio and accelerates its presence in the fast growing deepwater production regions of Africa, Asia and Brazil.
Wellstream, which has more than 850 employees and operates two manufacturing facilities in Newcastle, United Kingdom, and Niterói, Brazil, specializes in the engineering and manufacture of high-quality flexible risers and flowline products for oil and gas transportation in the subsea production industry.
The $1.3 billion (£800 million GBP) acquisition of Wellstream enables GE to capitalize on growth in the floating production, storage and offloading offshore segment which underpins deepwater oil and gas production.
Claudi Santiago, president and CEO, GE Oil & Gas said, “Wellstream’s people, technology and customer relationships, including those in Brazil, are an excellent addition to the GE Oil & Gas subsea portfolio, complementing our existing drilling and production product and service lines. Together, GE Oil & Gas and Wellstream now offer our customers an unrivalled, value-adding technology and services platform, underpinned by systems integration and reliable innovation.”
Santiago continued, “GE continues to expand its localized presence in Brazil through the addition of Wellstream’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Niterói. GE already is a strong and committed player in Brazil’s deepwater oil and gas production sector, and I am confident that we will continue to deliver significant advantage to our customers across Latin America through the many technology and services benefits that this strategic acquisition delivers.”
Source: Press release