Jardine Plans To Restructure Oilfield Servicing—New Name Jardine Offshore Promet

Plans are at an advanced stage for Promet and Jardine Offshore to be merged. The two groups, both of which are major components of Jardine Matheson (South East Asia), form the backbone of Jardine's involvement in the oilfield service industry. In effect, two mergers are planned — on the one hand between the Singapore operations of each group, and on the other between their international operations. Both of the resulting entities wil be owned by a new holding company.

The combined group is to be named "Jardine Offshore Promet." A preliminary indication of plans to rationalize its investments in the oil servicing and engineering fields was given in May by Jardine Matheson (South East Asia) at the time of releasing its 1977 results.

The proposed merger was announced by William Courtauld, a Jardine Matheson group general manager who is responsible for Jardine's oilfield and related activities.

The Singapore operations of the Jardine Offshore Promet Group will be organized into three divisions, in addition to a central finance and administrative function.

The Offshore Division will act as the service agent for all marine contracting activities of the Group worldwide. These include offshore oilfield construction, maintenance and support services, and also ocean towing and civil marine activities such as port construction and dredging. The formation of Jardine Offshore Promet will bring together a diverse fleet of over 30 units of marine equipment ranging from crane barges to harbor tugs.

The Promet Division will consist of all the Group's onshore manufacturing activities.

These include shipbuilding and steel fabrication, construction of modular housing units, and the casting and machining of a wide range of steel products. The Promet Division's 50-acre waterfront yard in Jurong, Singapore, which has a production capacity of 30,000 tons of steel per annum, is equipped with one of Southeast Asia's most sophisticated undercover fabrication facilities.

The Agencies Division will handle the marketing of a number of marine-orientated products such as Carboline paints and Skagit winches. It will also include the anticorrosion businesses now owned by Promet.

The senior management team of Jardine Offshore Promet's Singapore operations is made up as follows. During its initial stages, the chairman will be William Courtauld. He is being transferred to Jardine's head office in Hong Kong toward the end of the year, and will be succeeded by Brian Dickinson.

Mr. Dickinson is on the main board of Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd., and recently took up his appointment as Jardine's regional director for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore.

The managing director and chief operating officer will be Brian Chang. Mr. Chang was founder and chairman of Promet, and has been the principal architect of its development.

He was also founder of Jardine Offshore.

The director of finance and administration will be Peter J. Collins. Mr. Collins was previously finance director of Jardine Matheson Holdings (South East Asia). The head of the Offshore Division will be Michael D. Fort. He previously served as general manager and then managing director of* Jardine Offshore Pte. Ltd. The head of the Promet Division will be Dr. Benety Chang.

He was previously general manager of Promet. The head of the Agencies Division will be Leon Moore. He has been extensively involved in the development of Jardine's oilrelated activities in a number of senior positions.

Jardine Offshore Promet's Singapore administrative headquarters are to be at the company's Jurong fabrication yard. The existing offices there are being expanded to accommodate personnel moving from the previous Jardine Offshore offices near Orchard Road.

Other stories from September 15, 1978 issue

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