Fugro has bought Jason Information Systems in a cash and paper transaction evaluated at € 100 million. The deal follows Fugro’s acquisition of Roberston Research International (PDM Vol. 6 N° 6) and is part of Fugro’s ongoing plan to create a specialist Geoscience Division. Both company boards have signed-off on the deal which is waiting on shareholder approval.
50% growth
Jason employs a staff of 90 in Rotterdam and had a turnover of € 15.6 million over the 12 months to June 2001. The company has posted an annual turnover growth rate of over 30% for the last seven years, and anticipates growth of approximately 50% in calendar year 2001.
Workbench
Jason’s flagship product, the Geoscience Workbench, provides integrated, quantitative reservoir analysis and modeling to optimize the integration of data from multiple sources. The Workbench includes tools for seismic inversion, amplitude versus offset (AVO) studies and geostatistics.
€ 100 million
One third of the € 100 million purchase price will be paid in newly issued ordinary Fugro shares subject to certain conditions. The remaining two thirds of the purchase price will be paid in cash by long and short-term financing arrangements. Jason is expected to enhance Fugro earnings per share in 2002. The Jason acquisition forms part of Fugro’s strategy of building up its geoscience division. Fugro plans to reduce its dependency on cyclical exploration activity, by targeting corporate production budgets.
Geoscience
The new geoscience division will also include Robertson, Fugro’s Airborne Survey companies, Geoteam, Fugro LCT, Seismic Australia and Geologic Consulting Services. The geoscience division is expected to generate about a quarter of Fugro’s future turnover and should benefit from internal synergies. Fugro plans ‘significant’ future growth - both organically and through new acquisitions.
Osiris
Fugro has also acquired Osiris B.V. from CGG. Osiris provides positioning and hydrographic services in addition to hydrographic survey services around the world. Osiris has a staff of 67 and annual turnover of approximately € 10 million. More from www.fugro.com.
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