Most companies pursue acquisitions so they can accelerate their growth and build on their existing business; Neptune Marine was different.
Managing director Christian Lange says Neptune has effectively used acquisitions to create a business.
He joined Neptune early last year, nearly two years after it floated on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Mr Lange, who previously worked for global oil and gas technology company Schlumberger in New York, said he was attracted by the enthusiasm of company founder Clive Langley, who was passionate about its core underwater welding technology.
“But what was clear was that they didn’t actually have a business, what they had was a technology,” Mr Lange said. “For me it was obvious that you needed to create a business that the technology could support, not the other way around.”
Neptune has completed six acquisitions, enabling it to offer a range of sub-sea engineering services to the oil and gas industry.
He emphasised that the takeovers were a means to an end, not an end in themselves.
“Neptune in its original form was really an R&D company; we wanted to change R&D to service delivery and clearly acquisitions were the easiest way to acquire the businesses, the cash flow and the growth profile and knit them together into an integrated business,” Mr Lange said.
He said he spent several months developing the strategy, which included strengthening Neptune’s board and talking to potential customers about the kind of services they wanted and how they could be delivered.
Corporate advisory firm Mainsheet Corporate and stockbroker Patersons Securities, which managed its capital raisings, both played a big part in the company’s growth.
Mr Lange said he only pursued acquisition opportunities where there was a close alignment on strategy and vision and on corporate culture.
All of the companies bought by Neptune wanted to grow and offer more services to their clients, but were unable to do so on their own.
