Seacor Marine Holdings has formed a joint venue with a subsidiary of Mexico’s Proyectos Globales de Energía y Servicios CME to acquire Brazilian offshore vessel owner UP Offshore.
The joint venture acquired UP Offshore for a nominal amount, refinancing around $95m of the company’s debt including a $15m loan from Mantenimiento Express Marítimo (MEXMAR), an existing joint venture in Mexico between affiliates of Seacor and CME.
UP Offshore has a fleet of 14 offshore vessels, 12 of them located in Brazil under the Brazilian flag. Nine of the vessels are platform supply vessels, four are ROV support vessels and one is an offshore terminal vessel.
John Gellert, CEO of Seacor Marine and Alfredo Miguel, president of CME, commented: “We are pleased to expand our partnership and are excited to create a unique offshore services group with local presence in the major markets of Latin America. During the past seven years, we have grown MEXMAR to a fleet of 15 vessels, all documented and registered in Mexico, and through our new joint venture, we will now have a meaningful presence in Brazil. In acquiring UP Offshore, we were able to use our joint venture capital efficiently and plan to integrate a strong platform in Latin America into SEACOR Marine’s global network. The UP Offshore transaction demonstrates the benefit of lenders and operators working together.”