Velocity Partners, a recently established private equity firm focused on the energy and industrials sector, today marks its launch by announcing the acquisition of Moreld Apply, Moreld Ross Offshore and Moreld Global Maritime (collectively “Moreld”) a group of companies that form a leading multi-disciplinary engineering group serving the offshore energy sector.

Velocity Partners is founded by Mark Dickinson and Neil Hartley, both well-known private equity investors focused on the energy industry. The private equity firm plans to identify long-term value-creating opportunities across the energy and industrials sector, and to raise capital on a deal-by-deal basis.

For the Moreld deal, Velocity Partners is investing alongside McIntyre Partners (McIntyre), a leading private investment firm in the energy, industry and infrastructure sectors, and the incumbent management who will own a material stake in the group. Moreld has been acquired from HitecVision, a leading provider of capital to Europe’s energy industry.

Moreld has a long history and an established presence on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, a prolific region of oil and gas fields that supplies approximately 30% of Europe’s gas. Currently, the region is undergoing a period of significant capital investment due to tax incentives, field life extension and decarbonisation.

Together, the companies acquired have an estimated revenue of c.NOK 5 billion (US$490 million) in 2023, and serve longstanding blue-chip customers including Equinor, Vår Energi, Aker BP, Total Energies, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Mark Dickinson, Founder and Managing Partner, Velocity Partners, said: “It is with great pride that we announce the launch of Velocity Partners. We are bringing a significant depth of knowledge to the market, built over an extensive period of time in a complex and ever-changing sector. I am delighted to welcome Moreld as the first business in the Velocity portfolio. With global energy demand set to rise, we will rely on places like the Norwegian Continental Shelf for decades to come. A leader in its field, Moreld is perfectly placed to deliver long-term value in the offshore energy sector.

We at Velocity Partners look forward to working with CEO Geir Austigard and his management team, alongside the excellent team at McIntyre, to help this business continue to grow and thrive.”

Mark Dickinson’s involvement in the energy sector spans 25 years, most recently serving as Chief Operating Officer at a specialist energy-focused private equity firm. Neil Hartley’s experience includes 30 years in the energy industry, with 20 years of private equity experience building on initial engineering and management roles at Schlumberger. Most recently, he was a Partner at a specialist energy-focused private equity firm and he is a non-executive director on a number of public and private boards where he has been instrumental in developing and executing strategies for established energy and industrial businesses to succeed in the energy transition.

Together, the founding partners are adept at identifying companies in the energy and industrials sectors which can deliver long-term value beyond prevailing trends. Headquartered in London, the firm will primarily focus on deals in and around Europe

Neil Hartley added: “We know from experience that there are a lot of excellent energy businesses out there that may not be recognised for the value they create. We want to uncover those opportunities and bring debt and equity capital to help these companies deliver on their potential in a dynamically changing energy landscape.”