Altrad, the French industrial giant, has announced it is acquiring Aberdeen-headquartered energy services firm Stork.
The deal will see 1,800 workers move into the Altrad Group, 85% of which are based in north-east Scotland.
It expected to close in the third quarter of this year subject to approvals.
Stork is an operations and maintenance firm with workers servicing offshore North Sea oil and gas assets, booking revenues of £209m during 2023.
The move comes hot on the heels of Altrad acquiring Sparrows, another north-east firm, announced in 2022, which saw 2,000 people move into the group.
It also comes after Fluor, the US-based owners of stork, has mooted sales plans, saying in January 2021 that it hoped to make a sale within the following 12-18 months.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
This deal is separate to an agreement struck in 2023 for by Bilfinger to acquire other segments of the Stork business.
Altrad said it does not envisage any redundancies, and is actively recruiting more staff.
The senior leadership team is also being retained.
Altrad’s CEO for the UK, Ireland, Nordics & Poland, John Walsh, said; “We are delighted to welcome Stork UK into the Altrad family. The acquisition represents a wonderful opportunity to extend our portfolio of services in the United Kingdom offshore sector, whilst enhancing the outcomes we deliver for our clients.”
Aside Aberdeen, Stork has bases across the UK including Teesside and Falkirk.
Steve Hunt, regional Director of Stork UK added; “We are extremely pleased to be joining Altrad and are confident our business will be well positioned to grow and develop at pace under the new ownership structure.
“We believe our collective capabilities and shared vision and values will be attractive to our clients, our people, and the communities within which we work.”
