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ESVAGT
DenmarkEnergy
Overview
Headquartered in Esbjerg, Denmark, ESVAGT is a leading provider of emergency rescue and response vessels (“ERRV”) and related services to the offshore energy industry in and around the North Sea and the Barents Sea. The company is also the market leader in the fast growing segment of service operation vessels (“SOV”) for the offshore wind industry.
Its ERRV services mainly involve the rescue and recovery of personnel, but also include the dispersion and recovery of oil spills, crew transfers and towing. ESVAGT is the leading provider of ERRV services in Denmark and Norway, with market shares of approximately 100% and 50%, respectively, as well as an established and growing presence in the UK. The majority of ESVAGT’s ERRV revenues are associated with North Sea oil and gas production support, with the remainder generated by supporting exploration activity.
ESVAGT is also the pioneer and market leader in the provision of SOVs to offshore wind farms, with seven bespoke vessels in operation and a further two under construction. SOVs are purpose-built, high performance vessels, providing efficient transport of maintenance technicians to wind turbines and other offshore wind equipment, under long term contracts. The offshore wind market, and hence demand for SOVs, is expected to grow strongly over the coming years, creating significant opportunities for the company.
ESVAGT has been operating since 1981, employs over 1,000 people and owns a fleet of more than 43 vessels.
Recent developments
ESVAGT has established a leading position in the offshore wind service operation vessels (‘SOV’) market. Its US joint venture, CREST, signed its first contract, a 15-year availability-based agreement with Siemens Gamesa servicing the Coastal Virginia Offshore Windfarm. This win positions ESVAGT very well as the near-term pipeline grows in the region. In Europe, a number of tenders will take place over the next 12 months and ESVAGT is expecting to benefit from its recent win of the first green SOV for Ørsted in 2022.
The EERV segment continues to see strong momentum due to the improved oil and gas markets, attractive supply / demand dynamics and an increased focus on security of supply in Europe due to the war in Ukraine. ESVAGT has benefited from these attractive market conditions to extend several key contracts.
Inflation is generally positive for ESVAGT due to its index-linked contracts, however cost inflation, in particular fuel costs, has accelerated faster than expected in the period
Investment rationale
3i Infrastructure acquired ESVAGT from AP Møller-Maersk and other minority shareholders in September 2015, in a consortium with AMP Capital.
ESVAGT has strong infrastructure characteristics and operates in an attractive market:
- It is a market leader in Denmark and Norway and has a small but growing presence in the UK offshore oil and gas market and in the expanding North Sea offshore wind sector.
- It is an asset intensive business, with a modern state-of-the-art fleet of purpose-built vessels.
- A high proportion of its revenues is contracted over the medium term with a diverse customer base featuring limited customer concentration, underpinning stable and predictable cash flows.
- It provides an essential service for the offshore energy industry in light of regulatory health and safety requirements, which constitutes a small component of the overall production cost, resulting in lower price sensitivity;
- It operates in a market with high barriers to entry, as customers require bespoke vessels, manned by experienced crews with a strong safety track record. The harsh weather conditions and language barriers also inhibit new market entrants based outside the region; and
- With its leading market position, strong safety track record and state-of-the-art fleet, ESVAGT is optimally positioned to exploit growth opportunities in the UK and potentially further afield, as well as in the offshore wind energy market.
Sustainability
Sustainability is at the core of ESVAGT's strategy. As the market leader and largest operator of Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) in Europe, the business supports the development of the offshore wind sector. It also supports its customers to reduce emissions in their supply chains, notably through innovative energy efficient vessel design and work on low emission fuels such as battery, bio and e-fuel. Additionally, making the sea a safe place to work has been ESVAGT’s mission from day one. The business has a strong track record of health and safety supported by a comprehensive programme of initiatives for employees and customers. In 2022 the business experienced zero lost time incidents – a significant achievement.
Key facts>43 vessels in the fleet>1,000 employees14 years average SOV contract length
