Dubai oil services firm NPS seeks up to $700m in sale

DUBAI: Dubai-based oil services firm NPS Energy has put itself back up for sale, hoping to fetch up to $700 million after a deal to be bought by Norway's Aker Solutions fell apart last year, sources familiar with the matter said.
Oil services company Aker agreed to buy NPS Energy for about $460 million in May 2012, including $110 million in debt, but the deal collapsed in November after the two parties failed to reach a final agreement.
A formal sale process for the business was initiated earlier this year, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is not public.
NPS Energy is part of oilfield services company National Petroleum Services, which was formed in 2004 from the merger of oil field businesses owned by two large family-owned groups in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Demand for oil field services in the Middle East, the world's top oil producing region, has increased rapidly in the last few years.
NPS Energy has appointed British lender HSBC Holdings as a financial adviser for the transaction, according to the sources.