QEST Consulting Group has successfully bid for the Australian risk management operations of international heavyweight Det Norske Veritas.
The national group will acquire DNV’s five Australian senior managers plus most technical staff, and expects to double the size of its business within two years.
Qest will take over DNV’s Sydney office, making Sydney the new national head office for Qest.
The Qest expansion following the
May 1 acquisition will have a more immediate impact on Qest’s Perth office.
This office, the base for Qest’s WA, Northern Territory and international operations, will grow by 25 per cent, Qest executive general manager and west coast operations director Chris Chapman said, and the company would be moving to larger premises further west on St Georges Terrace.
The DNV acquisition would allow Qest access to additional projects in Australia – for example in rail – and also to new business in Asia and the Middle East, Mr Chapman said.
Qest was a successful bidder because its business was of a similar structure and make-up to DNV’s Australian risk management operations, he said.
The company was able to use the risk management process used to assist its own clients to offer a structured proposal to DNV, outlining an appropriate beneficial and financial case, and explaining how Qest could interface with DNV.
The DNV risk, health, safety and environment sale was a result of restructuring, a DNV spokesperson said, and DNV would be retaining its Australian shipping industry services operations.
DNV was established in 1864.
