WorleyParsons makes $100m acquisition

Engineering firm WorleyParsons has bought South Africa-based company TWP Holdings for $100 million and extended a contract with BP in Iraq.

WorleyParsons has struck a deal with publicly-listed South African company Basil Read Holdings to buy its subsidiary TWP, a provider of engineering design, procurement, construction management and asset services, largely within the underground mining sector.

TWP has about 1,100 employees, mostly in South Africa but also in greater Africa, Latin America and Australia.

TWP has a Perth-based outpost, which was established in 2006, winning contracts at BHP Nickel West’s Perseverance Deeps project before the GFC forced it to shed staff.

London-listed consultancy WSP Group took a 50 per cent stake in TWP Australia in October last year.

WorleyParsons said its takeover remained subject to approval by Basil Read shareholders, but should be completed by March 2013.

The company has also extended an engineering, procurement and management services contract with BP Ira and its partners PetroChina, and Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation.

The $90 million extension to an existing 20-year contract with BP Iraq related to an increase in production from the Rumaila oilfield in Iraq's south, WorleyParsons said.