KKR buys minority stake in RigNet

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts plans to acquire a minority stake of 4.75 million shares in RigNet from Nordic private equity firm Cubera, according to a statement from KKR. The deal, which is subject to customary approvals, would make KKR the largest RigNet shareholder—holding a 27 percent stake.

Based in Houston Texas, RigNet provides remote communications across offshore and onshore drilling rigs, production facilities and energy maritime, according to the statement. Its products include voice and data networks and video conferencing services.

“We believe that the digitalisation of upstream energy has only just begun. A prime example is the rapidly growing demand for broadband connectivity for oil and gas operations in remote and harsh environments,” Mattia Caprioli, who heads KKR’s services sector team in Europe, said about RigNet in the statement.

Cubera, which has offices in Oslo and Stockholm, acquired RigNet as part of a secondary deal in 2008 and since then RigNet’s revenues have doubled, the statement disclosed. RigNet has global offices including Doha, Qatar and Perth, Australia, according to its website. 

KKR has invested more than $10 billion in the telecommunications, technology and services sectors, the statement disclosed. This includes web host Go Daddy, which KKR acquired in 2011, according to its website.
 
Since 2009, about $4 billion has been committed to buyout, minority or joint venture investments in the oil and gas industries, including New York-based Accelerated Oil Technologies—an independent oil company KKR invested in, in 2011.