Avingtrans plc (LON:AVG), which designs, manufactures and supplies critical components, modules, systems and associated services to the energy, medical and industrial sectors, has announced that it has acquired the intellectual property, trading history and brand of Joseph Oat Corporation, a nuclear engineering specialist based in the United States, for a cash consideration of US$2.5 million.
Joseph Oat has been one of the best-known names in the nuclear supply chain since the 1980s and 1990s, especially in the USA, supplying performance-critical components to some of the largest names in the nuclear industry and maintaining a significant installed base for service and replacement work. The Acquisition follows the planned retirement of Joseph Oat’s owners/ managers.
Avingtrans has continued to see strong performance across its nuclear businesses during the first quarter of the new financial year, securing strategically important contracts with new customers across emerging nuclear technologies, power life-extension and the US defence sector. This has included long-lead items for TerraPower and replacement equipment to support the Duane Arnold nuclear power station. Hayward Tyler and Energy Steel, the Group’s N-stamp-certified US nuclear businesses, are well positioned to become critical suppliers to the next generation of nuclear energy facilities, with active involvement across new build, fusion, life extension and decommissioning programmes.
Austen Adams, Chief Operating Officer of Avingtrans, commented:
“The nuclear market offers strong growth potential across the US, driven by an unprecedented convergence of Big Tech energy demand, aggressive US federal de-risking, and a shift towards economies-of-scale production for small modular reactors.
“Avingtrans already has a strong US presence in nuclear markets through our N-stamp-certified Hayward Tyler and Energy Steel businesses. The acquisition of the Joseph Oat IP fits well with these capabilities and provides a valuable opportunity to scale to meet growing demand across the sector.
”The Joseph Oat IP is highly complementary to the Group’s existing US nuclear businesses, and extends the Group’s reach into legacy installed equipment across US power plants and other process industries, where ownership of the original designs removes the need to reverse-engineer components and ensures replacement parts fit first time, avoiding costly downtime.
“The Acquisition also broadens the Group’s engineered product portfolio without the associated design cost, widens access to qualified AP1000 components, and brings valuable brand equity through the Joseph Oat name.”
