Suretank founder buys back equity fund stake

Suretank founder Patrick Joy has bought back a two thirds stake in the Irish manufacturer bought a decade ago by a Norwegian private-equity fund.

Irish-owned and based Suretank supplies specialised storage equipment to the offshore oil and gas industry, pharmaceutical manufacturers and high-tech companies.

Founder Patrick Joy confirmed this week that he had bought back a 67.7 per cent stake in the business from Norway’s HitecVision that he originally sold to the investor in mid 2013.

The businessman did not say how much he had paid for the holding, as the deal’s terms are confidential. However, the price was lower than the €35 million or so that HitecVision spent when it took the stake almost 10 years ago.

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Mr Joy explained that HitecVision had decided that the time was right to sell. The original deal was part of an individual fund that had performed well for the private-equity investor overall, he added.

His purchase leaves him with about 94 per cent of the Dunleer, Co Louth-based company, in which he kept a minority stake when the Norwegians bought the majority share.

Suretank continues to perform well, according to Mr Joy.

“Revenues last year were €36 million and we have budgeted for €45 million this year,” he said.

“We have a very good order book and we’re probably quite bullish.”

Suretank has also refocused its business. At the time of the original HitecVision deal, it was focused purely on providing tanks needed by the offshore oil and gas industry for storing chemicals, drilling mud and material marked for disposal.

By that time its clients included key players in the oil and gas service industry Haliburton and Schlumberger.

However, that now accounts for less than 50 per cent of its overall sales. “Oil and gas is not where people want to be these days,” Mr Joy observed.

Suretank has shifted into supplying other industries, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, life sciences, energy and some specialised work for data-centre operators.

The business, a member of the Irish Exporters’ Association, intends investing in new technology and manufacturing facilities and to increase its workforce. It has operations here, in Britain and in Thailand.

Mr Joy founded Suretank in 1995 after getting the idea for the business while working with CPV, which made tanks for transporting chemicals.

A colleague Neil Lund also invested in the venture, which had £150,000 Irish punts seed capital when it began. Early backers included Newry, Co Down bookmaker Pat O’Hare.

A qualified engineer, Mr Joy said he had always wanted to start his own business. His efforts earned him the overall Ernst & Young – now EY – Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2013, several months after his deal with HitecVision.

HitecVision originally focused on offshore oil and gas, in which Norway remains a leader, but has also turned its attention to other industries, including renewable energy.

Recently its new energy fund invested in Norwegian onshore wind specialist Aneo, offshore wind developer Vårgrønn, and a district heat business, Hafslund Oslo Celsio, in Oslo, the Scandinavian country’s capital city.

In 2013 it sold the Norway-based Spring Energy to Irish explorer Tullow Oil. It has also done deals in the past with groups including Exxon Mobil.