Expro

Expro (officially Expro International Group) is an international oil and gas service company, specializing in well flow management, headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom.

History

The business was founded by J. Trewhella, J. Ross and H. Green in 1973 at Great Yarmouth as Exploration & Production Services (North Sea) Ltd with the objective of carrying out well testing in the North Sea. In 1986 some 84% of the company was acquired by Flextech from whom the management subsequently bought out the business in 1992. The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1994. In 2006 it acquired PowerWell Services, another leading well management concern.

In 2013, Expro launched the prototype HawkEye V downhole camera and celebrated its 40th year.

Takeover

In May 2008 Halliburton made a £1.7bn takeover of the business, while a competing bid worth £1.8bn was made the following month by Umbrellastream, a Candover-led consortium also comprising Goldman Sachs and Alpinvest. An improved bid from Halliburton was then rejected by the Expro board, a position backed by the High Court after an appeal lodged by a group of activist shareholders. The acquisition of Expro by Umbrellastream was completed on 1 July 2008.