Houston based offshore support vessel (OSV) operator Tidewater has completed the acquisition of rival firm GulfMark.
Tidewater will take on GulfMark’s fleet, which has a large focus on the North Sea, into its own.
GulfMark has ceased trading on the New York stock exchange.
Analyst firm Vessels Value said the merger makes the new firm the largest OSV operator with more than 250 vessels.
Despite having the most vessels, the new firm falls behind Edison Chousest Offshore in terms of their value.
Vessels Value said Tidewater’s policy of scrapping non-performing ships will help reduce oversupply in the market.
Tidewater CEO, John Rynd, said: “We’re excited to welcome the GulfMark team to Tidewater, and we look forward to commencing the work of integrating our fleets and shore-base operations in order to quickly and fully realize the strategic and financial benefits of this business combination.
“A combined Tidewater and GulfMark will provide employees with more opportunities as part of a global leader with a deep commitment to safety and reliability, offer customers a broad range of highest quality, cost-effective support vessel services worldwide, and deliver to stockholders competitive returns on invested capital and scope for significant growth in revenue and free cash flow in an improving offshore market.”