Offshore support services acquisition

The Partners Group is to acquire North Star, which operates a fleet of 48 specialised vessels that offer emergency response and rescue and offshore wind maintenance services.

“North Star represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a leading energy infrastructure services business that is well-positioned to capitalise on the transformative trends driving growth in the offshore wind industry,” said David Daum, managing director, Private Infrastructure, Partners Group.

“We have extensive experience in the offshore wind sector and North Star is a great fit for our platform-expansion strategy.”

Pan-European

Mr Daum said that the Partners Group aims to transform North Star into a leading pan-European next generation offshore wind infrastructure services company.

Headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, North Star is an established infrastructure company with a fleet of 48 Emergency Response and Rescue Vessels (ERRVs) and Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) and around 1,400 employees.

North Star’s ERRV fleet is the largest in Europe and provides essential crew rescue, firefighting and other emergency response services to offshore energy operations in the North Sea.

The company is also a leading UK provider of SOVs which are used to transport technicians to offshore windfarms and accommodate them for extended periods of time. It’s set to benefit from rising demand for SOVs due to structural growth in the offshore wind industry, which is being driven by global decarbonisation trends.

“We have over 50 years of operating experience and maintain a market leading position for both ERRVs and SOVs. Looking ahead, servicing the offshore wind industry represents a huge growth opportunity for us as the decarbonization of economies gathers pace,” said Matthew Gordon, chief executive officer, North Star.

”Partners Group’s operational expertise in that industry will be very valuable as we expand into new offshore wind markets in Europe, which are experiencing similar tailwinds to those in the UK.”