Western Australian transport and logistics firm Centurion has plugged a hole in its service offering with the purchase of Oilfield and General Transport (OGT) business from BIS Industries.
Centurion will gain OGT’s experienced 35-strong workforce from BIS Industries, the former Brambles Industrial Services which is now owned by US funds manager Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
It is the second divestment involving a private equity play in a week, with the Gresham Partners-owned Silk Logistics having sold Doolan’s Haulage back to its original owner.
By Rob McKay | October 4, 2011
Western Australian transport and logistics firm Centurion has plugged a hole in its service offering with the purchase of Oilfield and General Transport (OGT) business from BIS Industries.
Centurion will gain OGT’s experienced 35-strong workforce from BIS Industries, the former Brambles Industrial Services which is now owned by US funds manager Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, for an undisclosed sum.
It is the second divestment involving a private equity play in a week, with the Gresham Partners-owned Silk Logistics having sold Doolan’s Heavy Haulage back to its original owner.
“This acquisition brings a new level of expertise into the Centurion business,” Centurion Executive General Manager Mark Doig says.
“We have been developing an in-house capability and the associated infrastructure to support companies operating in the oil and gas sector for some time.
“The addition of the OGT business to Centurion will allow us to keep pace with the rapid growth occurring in this area.”
Centurion, which marked its 40th anniversary this year and holds a crucial contract with Rio Tinto, has until now focused on the mining sector.
“We’ve had bits and pieces of project work in the oil and gas industry but we’ve never really had ongoing contracts,” Group Marketing Manager Karen McKenzie says.
“We’ve been trying into that business for a little while now and saw this is a good avenue to get in there.”
Centurion is also planning of a new logistics hub at the Gap Ridge development in the Karratha/Dampier area, a logistics centre for the North West Shelf oil and gas production region.
This will be given over to handling energy industry consumables.
The company, which has sites in the Pilbara at Carnarvon, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Kununurra, Newman and Tom Price as well as the Kimberley, Murchison, the Goldfields and Perth, has undertaken a land purchase and facility upgrade program in the north-west this year.
Centurion has form with Brambles-related firms, having bought Brambles Northwest Transport in 1999.