Equity firm partners with Louisiana Shipyard

Galliano, La.-based Grand Isle Shipyard Inc. partnered recently with a Salt Lake City, Utah equity firm to help the offshore service company expand its market share in the Gulf of Mexico region.

Huntsman Gay Global Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, will recapitalize the 48-year-old company, but will retain its existing ownership and management team.

Mark Pregeant, chief executive of Grand Isle Shipyard, said Huntsman Gay is “committed to our core value of ‘putting people first,’ and shares our vision for the future.”

 Pregeant call the firm the “right partner for us.”

“We are confident that Huntsman Gay’s financial and operational support will enable us to expand our relationships, continue to build our market share, and provide high-value services to our customers as their needs evolve.”

Grand Isle Shipyard has 12 locations throughout Louisiana, Texas and Alabama and focuses on oilfield maintenance services, including platform maintenance, onshore and offshore fabrication, plant maintenance, instrumentation and electrical maintenance, production management and safety and environmental services.

“(Grand Isle Shipyard) is a great addition to our portfolio,” said Rhett Neuenschwander, a managing director for Huntsman Gay. “With its reputation for quality and expertise in providing services to oilfield platforms, the company is well positioned to take advantage of exploration and production by major producers and extend its industry leadership.”

In other news around the Gulf Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded Lafayette, La.-based C&C Technologies a $7 million contract to survey the seafloor off the Louisiana coast in an effort to update nautical charts. C&C will operate two vessels around the clock for about 8 months to complete the job, which is funded through the American Reinvestment Act – or federal stimulus funds.

A south Louisiana oilfield service company was awarded a multi-year contract by BP Deepwater to provide all contract operations and maintenance personnel for the company’s Gulf of Mexico platforms. Larose, La.-based Danos & Curole, a global oilfield service company, will service all eight of BP’s state-of-the-art Gulf assets and an inland facility in Houma, La. BP's deepwater platforms include Atlantis, Thunder Horse, Mad Dog, Marlin, Holstein, Na Kika, Horn Mountain and Pompano.

 

“With the addition of this new partnership with BP, Danos & Curole has firmly established itself as the labor provider of choice to the ‘Supermajors’ in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Paul Danos. “As the worldwide energy industry continues to evolve and diversify, we look forward to new opportunities for growth and a long-lasting partnership with BP.”

Northrop Grumman’s shipyard in Avondale, La. signed over the U.S. Navy’s fifth new landing platform dock ship, designed to haul marines and their gear to the battlefield. While the ship is the fifth of 10 San Antonio class vessels, this one was built with 7 ½ tons of steel taken from the fallen Word Trade Center towers.

Local newspapers reported the ceremony, in which the $1.2 billion ships was signed over to the Navy, began by coincidence at 9:11 a.m. Of course the towers fell on 9/11. The ship, which took 3 1/2 years to build, will be commissioned as the U.S.S. New York at a Nov. 7 ceremony in New York City.