Stolt Offshore Acquires Paragon

Stolt Offshore S.A. signed a letter of intent to acquire a majority ownership of Paragon Engineering Services Inc. (PES) of Houston from Mr. Kenneth Arnold, the current controlling shareholder. A new holding company, Paragon Engineering Services International (PESI), will be established which will operate from the existing PES office in Houston and through a new company, Paragon Europe (PE), in Paris. This represents an investment by Stolt Offshore of approximately $13 million. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of this year. PES provides front end engineering and design studies, detailed engineering, procurement, construction and project management services to customers for both offshore and onshore production facilities and pipelines. The company currently employs 350 people and had revenues of $40 million in the last 12 months. Bernard Vossier, Chief Executive Officer of Stolt Offshore said, "The formation of this new entity vombining Stolt Offshore's deepwater design experience with Paragon's topsides design and project management expertise, will enhance Stolt Offshore's ability to take total responsibility for large deepwater EPCI projects around the world. We intend to operate and grow the Paragon companies independently of Stolt Offshore. This will allow Paragon's recognised capabilities in cost efficient Gulf of Mexico type designs to be offered to a wide range of upstream oil and gas customers worldwide," concluded Mr Vossier.