JEDDAH: United Safety has achieved further international growth and significant greater penetration in the Middle East and North Africa oil services sector since it was purchased for C$127 million by Energy Capital Group (ECG), a private global investment firm focused on energy and energy-related corporate investments, alongside Morgan Stanley Principal Investments Group, in December 2008. United Safety, headquartered in Alberta, Canada, is a leading global provider of specialized safety equipment and technical services and training for the oil and energy industry including providing its services to the onshore and offshore drilling operations, processing and refinery operators and the petrochemical and power generation industries. In cooperation with ECG and its shareholders, which include some of the Middle East's largest energy and industrial investment groups such as Rawabi Holding Company, ATCO, Al Muhaidib Group and Al-Ansari Holding Company, United Safety has successfully grown its global footprint, ECG said in a statement Tuesday. United Safety operates in more than nine countries around the world today from only four prior to its acquisition. ECG has helped United Safety to launch their services in a number of new Middle East markets such as Bahrain, Iran and Iraq and has lead the company into being the frontrunners for several key projects in Oman, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, among others, where it soon expects to become active. It has also helped the company make further inroads into the Saudi Arabian market. Prior to its acquisition, United Safety operated in Saudi Arabia through a 50-50 joint venture with Rawabi Holding Company, and that joint venture represented only 5 percent of the company's global revenue pre-acquisition. One year after the ECG-lead acquisition, United Safety's Saudi's market share, as a percentage of their total revenue, grew to 16 percent of the company's total revenue due to invesing in new equipment and the opening of MENA-based H2S safety and general oil and gas safety services training facility (Technical Operations Center) in Saudi Arabia, where Saudization jumped to 65 percent from 20 percent in less than one year Additionally, United Safety generated enough free cash flow at the global company level in the same one-year period. This was supported by ECG opening up several new opportunities for the company in the MENA region that helped the company pay roughly two-thirds of the debt that was on its books when the company was acquired by ECG. Ali Abdulaziz AlTurki, founding partner and CEO of Energy Capital Group, said: "ECG is focused on investing in small-to-medium-sized companies with strong near-term potential for growth globally and in the MENA markets in particular. These results validate ECG's ability to identify promising investments and to then leverage our regional expertise, network and strong shareholder base in order to help companies quickly establish themselves in new markets and build relationships that will help them to secure potentially large and lucrative contracts in the vast MENA and international energy sector. At the same time, these results also demonstrate the value proposition ECG offers to investors by underscoring our ability to effectively manage and grow our investments and thus ensure our ability to generate attractive and ongoing returns for our investors and clients." A key part of United Safety's international expansion strategy has also been realized since its acquisition by ECG. This includes the establishment of a hub in the region from which it will serve the MENA and global markets. In 2010, ECG assisted United Safety in establishing its Dubai operations, located in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, and in building an executive team there with the right regional and global experience to further capitalize on growth opportunities in the MENA markets and beyond. From this base in the Middle East, United Safety has not only entered key regional markets but further expanded the business in other promising territories.
