Brastec Technologies to buy Dutch company

With the acquisition, Brazilian company positions itself among the major global players in the industry

The Brastec Technologies S.A, a Brazilian-based engineering and equipment producer for flexible pipe and cable manufacturing, is acquiring 100% of the Dutch company SAS, a leading provider of high quality equipment for the offshore market. The acquisition will bring a complementation in product scope, services, engineering, and brings a deep “know-how” of offshore projects required for the high level of local content desired for future projects in Brazil.

Currently the Brazilian based Brastec supplies equipment for onshore manufacturing facilities for flexible pipes and umbilical cables as well as logistics bases.  The European based SAS manufactures flexible and rigid pipe handling and launching equipment, tensioners, and large (Offshore) winches.

The acquisition will lead to a fourfold increase in Brastec’s size. The revenues, already projected to double this year, is expected quadruple with the acquisition, exceeding BRL 300 million in 2012. The company will become a Brazilian multinational with global reach, well positioned to meet the world´s demand for both onshore and offshore equipment. 

The operation will permit the Brazilian fabrication of a wide range of equipment currently not being produced in Brazil thereby satisfying the local content requirements. For example: Pipelay systems for PLSV´s and heavy duty Winches of up to 750 tons for the deployment of flexible pipes in ultra-deep water. In addition Brastec will gain a base of operations located in Europe – which will facilitate the access and service providing to European and Asian clients both with onshore products (Brastec) and offshore products (SAS).  SAS´s main executives Raymond Kerkvliet and Erik Kros will remain at the head of the SAS operations.  Both executives are committed to the integration and long term growth plans of SAS and Brastec and are excited about the new prospects that this transaction brings for both companies.    

“The pre salt discovery is creating a revolution, impacting Brazil and worldwide markets. With this operation, we take a big step to quadruplicate our size in 2012. In this context, the admission of the O&G FIP – a private equity fund managed by Modal - as our minority shareholder initiated a new phase of growth.  It allowed us to strengthen our capital structure and provided support to achieve this acquisition”, affirms Fabio Romano, CEO of Brastec.

“We are following the same path the Norway followed in the past. The pre salt discovery will enable the development of Brazilian multinational companies.  The company resulting of the acquisition aims to become a world reference for quality and know-how”, said John Michael Streithorst, Head of Private Equity at Banco Modal. 

The flexible pipes and umbilical cables are essential to execution of activities related to offshore exploration of oil and gas. Information provided by ONIP (National Organization of the Petroleum Industry) indicates that the demand for this kind of equipment will reach 17.000 km for the next few years. Currently, the installed capacity in Brazil is 750 km/year. As producer of equipment for manufacturing and handling of flexible pipes, Brastec will benefit directly from investments in this market.

About Brastec Technologies SA

Established in 2002 and based in Jundiai, Brastec well recognized both nationally and internationally in its business segment. Brastec develops engineering, manages projects, fabricates, and installs medium and large equipment used in the manufacturing and handling of flexible pipes and umbilical cables. Its customers are the mayor suppliers to oil companies such as Petrobras, and are mainly multinationals manufacturers of flexible pipes and umbilical cables. The high value added equipment manufactured by Brastec is considered essential to the activities of oil and gas exploration supply chain.

The company has been created from the initiative of Fabio Romano, an Italian entrepreneur living in Brazil over the last 15 years, who identified the growing demand for these types of facilities and local support services,. Fabio has invested in the development of a national company, capable to meet the strong quality requirements of the large suppliers of Petrobras, which are installed in Brazil and abroad.

Brastec is the sole Brazilian based supplier of fully integrated and turn-key equipment in its niche market: manufacturing equipment for flexible pipes and umbilical cables, as well as logistics bases. The company has presented significant organic growth – average of 48% per year, over the past four years.

Never actually seen a “real” chain tensioner at work?

This is your opportunity for a hands-on experience. We encourage you to visit us at the 2012 Offshore Technology Conference, Booth 2427, where you can see and touch a fully operational quarter-scale model of the SAS 120 mm.

LCT CHAIN TENSIONER.

SAS proudly introduces

a new range of Tensioners

LCT Chain Tensioners

April 30^th,  2012

SAS and its partners are always in search for bright and clever engineers, who can participate in further development and design of our products. Being close to our clients and to understand perfectly their needs is considered crucial. Therefore we are continuously further enhancing our local engineering capabilities and expertise.

For our Houston sales office we have contracted a very experienced engineer, Eric Hurst. The last ten years he has been heavily involved in developing and making designs for complex winch and mooring systems. We are very proud that Eric joins our team as Technical Director for the USA, which will further help us in providing our clients the most optimum and reliable winch solutions.

AXTech has established an engineering office in Kristiansund in addition to their Molde office in Norway and their Poland office in Gdynia . AXtech's Office Manager in Kristiansund, Erik Aspen, is a Master Engineer in the field of steel structure and mechanics.

Our aim is to keep improving and expanding our group of engineers at our Dutch, Norwegian, Brazilian and Houston offices. Please feel free to contact us, if you are interested in joining one of these professional and enthusiatic team of engineers.

Our partner from Norway, AXTech AS, is pleased to announce the award of a contract for Module Handling / Subsea Winch System.

SubSea7 awarded this contract for design and delivery of a winch system that will be installed in a new vessel currently being fabricated at Ulstein Verft in Ulsteinvik, Norway. The vessel is owned by Eidesvik and is specially designed for IMR (Inspection, Maintenance & Repair) operations for Statoil.

The winch system is a so-called Module Handling System (MHS) which is used for lifting operations of special modules on seabed installations.       The system comprises a total of six (6) winch units ranging from 5 to 70 tonnes lifting capacity and an operational capacity down to approx. 2000 meters. All winches have electrical drives and have a built-in Active Heave Compensation (AHC) and Active Rope Tension (ART) controls. This system compensates for the vessel movements relative to the seabed. Total peak max power consumption for this system is well above 3000kW. In addition to this we shall also develop a special controls- and operation system which is in harmony with other systems onboard.

The award of this contract proves that SAS and its partners are well established to design and develop advanced lifting- and material handling equipment for the marine and offshore industry, where competitiveness, efficiency, reliability and trust are very important.

Continuing its success, SAS Winches recently has been awarded several new winch contracts, among them are contracts for two new, highly innovative, deepwater constrcution vessels. Both vessels will be constructed by Daewoo in South Korea. 

The equipment package consists of two Mooring Windlasses and Chain Stoppers and six Constant Tension Barge Mooring Winches. All equipment will be supplied with the associated electric power units, local and remote controls and several other mooring components. 

Our contract comprises four A&R Winches, and a special turn sheave block assembly, matching the 2,000 t pipelay capacity. 

Our Norwegian partner, AXTech, is pleased to announce the award of a contract by SMD (Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd) in Newcastle, UK for the supply of three Launch and Recovery Systems (LARS) for handling of Seafloor Production Tools (SPTs).

The contract (up to EUR. 20 million) is by far AXTech’s largest, and will run until end of 2012.

The scope of supply is for three LARS systems comprising A-Frames, Winches, Sheave units and Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs). The systems shall handle loads of 250 Metric Tons (+ wire weight) between vessel and seabed. Max operating depth is 2500m. Each of the Hydraulic Power Units for operation of the winches and A-Frames has a total installed power of approx. 2200-2400 kW.

All three systems shall be installed on the Production Support Vessel. Designing equipment capable of handling such large loads at great water depths will be an exciting challenge for AXTech. AXTech have, however, successfully designed similar sized equipment before in other applications.

SMD is one of the world’s leading companies for the supply of ROVs, trenching systems, components and special projects. They have a worldwide customer base operating in markets in oil and gas, telecoms, mining, salvage, military and scientific research.

SMD is responsible for provision of all (3) production machines, including the LARS systems, to final Client which is Nautilus Minerals Inc (‘Nautilus’), a seafloor production company with their head office in Canada.

Nautilus is developing a production system using existing technologies adapted from the offshore oil and gas industry to enable the extraction of these high grade Seafloor Massive Sulphide ("SMS") systems on a commercial scale. This in co-operation with suppliers of specialized heavy duty equipment like SMD and AXTech.
It is the first company to commercially explore the seafloor for massive sulphide systems, a potential source of high grade copper, gold, zinc and silver.
The world's first seafloor copper-gold project, Solwara 1, is under development in Papua New Guinea.

AXTech SPT LARS (Launch And Recovery Systems) will be utilized initially at the Solwara 1 site in water depths of up to 1700m.

SAS is pleased to announce that effective December 2010 Mr. Jim Allen has joined SAS U.S.A., Inc. Jim will be working in the position of Sales Director-North America from our new office in Houston, Texas.  Jim has more than 30-years International experience selling winches for all applications and he has always had Gulf of Mexico responsibilities as well as travelled extensively in Brazil, and S.E. Asia.

SAS U.S.A.  focuses on the sales, design, manufacture and service of all kinds of pipelaying equipment and the following type of heavy-duty winches; Mooring winches, Anchor Handling Winches, A&R Winches, Hawser Winches, Traction Winches, Umbilical Winches, Reel Drives and other Hoisting and Pulling Winches with capacities over 100 Tons W.L.L.

Jim can be contacted by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or you may reach him by phone at (832) 477-2979.

He will be present as well on the SAS booth at the Offshore Technology Conference in May 2011.