CHC Group acquires Babcock's subsidiary

On 11 March the CHC Group LLC announced that it has entered into a conditional agreement for the acquisition of the Oil and Gas aviation business of the Babcock International Group.

Babcock is known for its activities in the field of Defence: on land, at sea and in the air. Most of our readers will be familiar with the company’s military flying training, HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) Search-and-Rescue and firefighting.

The subsidiary that is currently for sale provides offshore oil and gas crew transportation services in the UK, Denmark (Esbjerg) and Australia (Karratha). It is headquartered in Aberdeen (UK), employs over 500 people and operates around 30 aircraft across its three locations.

The CHC Group is one of the world’s leading helicopter services and maintenance, repair and overhaul providers. In the helicopter fleets of both Babcock and CHC there is an obvious commonality in the types that are operated (e.g. Sikorsky S-92, Leonardo AW139, Airbus H175) The integration of Babcock Oil and Gas into the CHC Group can improve efficiency and increase the profitability of CHC.

With the acquisition of the offshore part of Babcock, the CHC Group seems to have overcome the financial problems it experienced in 2016, leading to a Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy. After financial restructuring, CHC’s Chapter 11 was revoked in May 2017.