Engineering company Clough has announced the sale of its marine construction business to Malaysia's SapuraCrest Petroleum Berhad, for gross proceeds of $127 million in cash.
Clough chief executve John Smith said the marine construction division requires significant capital investment to compete with the larger players, and its results have been lumpy.
In the half-year to December 2010, the division reported an underlying loss of $7.6 million, whereas in the previous year it reported an underlying profit of $24.1 million.
SapuraCrest will deliver the scale, flexibility of assets and broad geographic coverage to achieve more consistent results, he said.
Clough said it will achieve a one-off profit of $8 million, and the net increase in cash will be about $50 million after repayment of debt.
The sale includes the derrick lay barge Java Constructor, and Clough's interest in the Clough Helix joint venture, which operates the chartered Normand Clough vessel, and its investments in specialst engineering businesses OFI and Peritus.
Clough said the division will continue to operate from Perth following the sale, and Clough will continue to provide back-office services for two years.
