Boskalis' planned ALP acquisition gains approval

Altera Infrastructure FFTA Holdings is selling ALP Maritime Services and its fleet of eight anchor-handling salvage tugs, used for ship and casualty towing following salvage and for deepsea towage, to Boskalis Holding which is owned by HAL Investments Group.

This deal will see Boskalis expand its abilities for towing ships, maritime structures and floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) units worldwide.

Altera Infrastructure will exit from this segment of the market, enabling it to focus on expanding its position in FPSO ownership, leasing and management.

News of this corporate acquisition filtered out after the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defence (CADE) approved the deal. According to an unofficial social media community, CADE analysed the acquisition request and concluded “the transaction does not raise major concerns in terms of competition due to the low market shares held by the companies” in the anchor handling tug and offshore support vessel segments.

“In this way, the CADE board decided to approve it without restrictions.” This was published on the Official Gazette early in February 2024.

Boskalis is a global marine services company, active in dredging, offshore installations and transport, underwater services and towing. It is one of the world’s largest providers of salvage and emergency response services.

Demand for FPSO construction, towage, commissioning and installation is climbing as energy companies develop more of the world’s deepwater oil and gas fields using networks of subsea infrastructure linked to the production and export units.