Surtron Technologies and Vause Oil Production Services have joined together to create a diversified minerals and energy services provider spanning several geographical locations. Perth based Surtron provides logging and directional drilling services to the mining, minerals and coal seam gas sectors across Australia and in Africa while Vause provides oil and gas wireline, well testing and production services in New Zealand and Eastern Australia.
The merger, which brings the companies into the newly created Vautron Group, will give both companies new operational bases in different locations to allow for better servicing of customer needs and access to a greater pool of highly trained staff. The administrative centre will be run through Perth which will give the operations team more time to focus on clients.
Management in both Surtron and Vause are significant shareholders in Vautron and are being backed by Viburnum Funds and SCF Partners. Further strategic acquisitions are being considered which will add to the service offering of the group.
Viburnum Funds are a Perth based fund manager which has been an investor in Surtron since the management buy-out from ASX listed Imdex Pty Ltd four years ago. SCF Partners are a Houston based firm specialising in investments in the energy sector, with around US$1.5 billion of assets under management.
Shane Munyard, Managing Director of Surtron commented that “The combination of Vause and Surtron brings together two teams of people with skills in fundamentally similar yet quite different (geographically and technically) markets; this amalgamation will add depth and present opportunities to both businesses, as well as meeting a broader range of customers’ needs”. Shane also noted “Surtron’s history as part of an ASX listed company has left it with the legacy of a strong corporate and administrative focus, this will now serve the combined group well”.
Peter Vause, the CEO of Vause noted that “This [transaction] has been driven by our own rapid organic growth over the past few years and the inordinate time pressure this has placed on our slim, under resourced management teams. We have reached the limit of our current organisational structure and must quickly “corporatize” to some degree to prevent the wheels from falling off”. He also commented that “The Vautron deal is the best of both worlds and allows us to retain our own successful unique operating culture. It is a growth machine and we will expand services and capability across Australasia and maybe further afield”.
For further comment please contact:
Shane Munyard
08 9452 6800