Fluor Corp. and Stork has announced that Fluor has signed an agreement with UK-based private equity firm Arle Capital Partners to acquire 100% of Stork Holding B.V., based in the Netherlands, for an investment of approximately US$755 million (€695 million).
Upon closing of the acquisition, Fluor will begin combining Fluor’s operations and maintenance organization with Stork. Current Stork CEO, Arnold Steenbakker, will lead the combined group and report directly to Fluor’s CEO, David Seaton. The management team will be formed by Stork’s existing management combined with the managers of Fluor’s operations and maintenance business. The combined group, branded Stork and headquartered in the Netherlands, will have an annual turnover of approximately $2.3 billion (€2.1 billion) and a total of approximately 19,000 employees.
“The acquisition of Stork is consistent with Fluor’s goal to further enhance our integrated solutions capabilities in thoughtful, strategic ways that will increase the value we deliver to our clients and shareholders,” said David Seaton, Fluor’s chairman and CEO. “We are pleased to welcome Stork’s talented workforce of more than 15,000 employees, which will provide us with additional flexibility and capacity to increase our maintenance and direct construction activities. Stork is highly complementary to Fluor as it gives both businesses the opportunity to market diverse services and capabilities to new customers and across new geographies.”
“Stork’s business is largely driven by ongoing operating budgets and is therefore less impacted by volatile commodity prices," said Seaton. “In addition, Stork’s continuous site presence will help us improve our ability to meet our customers’ needs throughout the full lifecycle of an operating plant, and provide Fluor with an ongoing earnings stream and robust growth opportunities.”
Fluor intends to fully finance the cash required for the transaction through the issuance of debt in international markets. The acquisition is expected to close in H1 2016 and is subject to regulatory approvals and consultation procedures with Stork’s work council. Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial adviser to Fluor.
Stork is a global provider of maintenance, modification and asset integrity services associated with large existing industrial facilities in the oil and gas, chemicals, petrochemicals, industrial and power markets. It has operations in Continental Europe, United Kingdom, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas, with an annualized run-rate revenue of approximately $1.7 billion (€1.6 billion) and EBITDA of approximately $109 million (€100 million), implying a transaction multiple of just under seven times EBITDA.