LONDON, UK: Thunderball Investments Limited has reached agreement on the terms to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Lamprell Plc.

Thunderball Investments Limited is a newly formed company owned by Blofeld Investment Management Limited and AlGihaz Holding Closed Joint-Stock Company.

Under the terms of the offer, Lamprell Plc shareholders will be entitled to receive 9 pence in cash for each Lamprell Share. The offer values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Lamprell at approximately £38.8 million.

Blofeld Investment hold shares representing approximately 25.50 per cent of Lamprell’s issued voting rights and is associated with the Company’s joint venture operating partners in Lamprell Saudi Arabia LLC, a limited liability company registered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sami AlAngari, a person acting in concert with AlGihaz, holds shares representing approximately 19.68 per cent of Lamprell’s issued voting rights. The owners of Thunderball have sought to be supportive shareholders of Lamprell and wish to continue to be so moving forward.

The buyers recognised the strength of Lamprell’s market position, and the progress the Lamprell Group made in delivering a strategic transformation over the past five years against a backdrop of a depressed oil industry and more recently, significant disruptions and cost implications of COVID-19.

Lamprell’s high quality pipeline has the potential to convert into a high margin backlog and believes that the market segments in which Lamprell operates are underpinned by positive long-term fundamentals.

Lamprell now faces urgent and severe liquidity constraints and requires an immediate funding solution in order to meet funding obligations of c. US$95 million by the end of July 2022; in addition to the immediate funding obligations, Lamprell has material medium-term financial commitments of c.US$164 million relating to capital expenditure, joint venture contributions and end-of-service benefits; and in the event an offer on an equity basis and bridging financing cannot be obtained in the very near term, then Lamprell will need to consider and take steps to implement alternatives which seek to protect the interests of financial creditors, commercial counterparties and employees and which safeguard the rescue of the business as a going concern, but which may result in no value being attributed to the existing equity.

Lamprell is a public limited company incorporated in the Isle of Man on 4 July 2006 under the Isle of Man Companies Acts 1931 to 2004 with registered number 117101C.

Lamprell was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange on 16 October 2006 and was subsequently admitted to trading on the Main Market on 6 November 2008.

Lamprell Plc has an established track record as a provider of services to the international energy sector, with over 40 years’ experience delivering high quality projects. It designs, constructs and delivers assets and performs services that help its clients to produce energy safely, efficiently and cost-effectively.

Historically, Lamprell has provided engineering, procurement, construction and other contracting services to the energy industries. Lamprell has built high-quality complex onshore and offshore process modules, platforms and wind farm foundations for its clients, and holds leading market positions in jackup rig and liftboat projects.

It has also delivered land rigs, rig refurbishment projects and provided related oil and gas contracting services. Since 2016, and following the collapse of the global market for newly built jackup rigs, Lamprell and its management have taken significant steps to diversify and transform its business to reflect the changing dynamics in the energy industry with a focus on diversifying its addressable markets.

This involved establishing a strong position in the supply chain building critical infrastructure for major renewables projects, as well as developing various digital initiatives which have the potential to improve the Lamprell Group’s productivity and generate new revenue streams.

On 14 January 2021, Lamprell launched ‘Lamprell Reimagined’, a strategy aimed at broadening its addressable markets, both geographically and by industry, and creating a strong foothold in the global renewables sector and in the Middle East, the world’s most prolific oil and gas region, as well as commercialising digital initiatives developed in-house by the Lamprell Group.

‘Lamprell Reimagined’ has resulted in a reorganisation into three distinct business units of ‘Renewables’, ‘Oil and Gas’ and ‘Digital’, increasing Lamprell’s focus on renewables and the energy transition, improving its alignment with customers and seeking to enable the Lamprell Group to take full advantage of the significant opportunities in its core markets.