Sif Holding and Royal IHC have finalised the acquisition of KCI the engineers by Sif. The sale is part of IHC’s major restructuring programme for which the company announced it would focus on its core activities. Other activities and business units are to be divested.

The restructuring was announced last year after the shipyard got into financial problems and finally had to be rescued by the Dutch government. The shipbuilder set out a new course in which it planned to focus on the dredging and offshore market. Activities in the (wet) mining and defence markets have been designated as potential core activities, with opportunities to develop further.

In addition to KCI, among the activities (to be) divested were Vuyk Engineering, IHC Hitech, the company’s tunnelling business, and its participation in Rotterdam Offshore Group and Brazilian joint venture GranIHC. As part of this process, in February it was announced Rotterdam Offshore Group would continue as an independent company. This was followed last week by the sale of Vuyk Engineering to Royal Doeksen.

Also read: Shipbuilder IHC sells Vuyk Engineering to Royal Doeksen / Rotterdam Offshore Group continues as independent company

KCI management stays on

Works Councils have advised positively on the acquisition of KCI and trade unions have been informed. Financial details will not be disclosed.

KCI employs approximately 65 people who realised profitable sales of approximately nine million euros in 2020. The management of KCI was involved during the whole acquisition process and says it is pleased to now be a member of Roermond/Rotterdam based Sif Holding NV. They will continue their management positions.

Combining foundation design and manufacturing

‘The growth in size and complexity of future offshore wind projects has convinced us that a close link between foundation-design and manufacturing know-how can result in a significant optimisation of both the design of the foundation and the manufacturing of the same,’ says Fred van Beers, CEO of Sif Holding NV. ‘This effectively results in lower cost of ownership of the foundations for our customers as well as a further optimisation of the manufacturing process.’

He adds: ‘Adding design engineering skills is key for Sif and an important next step in its development towards an integrated total solution partner for offshore wind monopile products and services. This acquisition of KCI is instrumental to fully support this development and we very much look forward to the cooperation with the people at KCI the engineers.’

‘The aim of the KCI management has been to find the best possible partner for our business activities while we continue to serve our clients in the oil & gas, renewable and leisure market as independent service provider,’ states Marc Groenendijk, Managing Director of KCI. ‘With Sif as our new shareholder, we are confident that we can continue to pursue a strong position in the offshore energy market with a further growth in the offshore wind market and continue to offer our customers effective tailor-made designs and solutions.’

Picture by M.M. Minderhoud