Costain acquires Clerx Maxwell

7th Apr 2011 16:20

Engineering group Costain today announced the acquisition of 75% of the share capital of Clerx Maxwell, the Aberdeen-based operations support services provider operating in the upstream oil & gas sector.The company has simultaneously entered into a call option which will provide Costain with the ability to acquire the remaining 25% of the share capital from Meteor Investments. Initial consideration, including the exercise cost of the call option (if exercised), will be £3.2 million for 100% of ClerkMaxwell's share capital. Deferred cash consideration payments, based on a percentage of the notional future value of ClerkMaxwell calculated on the basis of an 8.0x multiple of EBITDA, may also be payable shortly after completion of the financial years ending 31 December 2012, 2013 and 2014. The total percentage of Notional Future Value payable over the three years ending 31 December 2014 is 49%. For 2010 ClerkMaxwell reported EBITDA and profit before tax of £0.4 million and £0.3 million, respectively, on revenues of £4.0 million. At year end ClerkMaxwell had gross assets of £1.1 million and is being acquired on a debt and cash free basis.Shares of Costain closed -1.00% lower today, at 246.5 pence. ab