Civmec acquires shipbuilding company and facilities

Australian engineering company Civmec announced February 2 that the company has completed the acquisition of one of Australia’s largest major engineering and shipbuilding companies, Forgacs.

In November 2015, Civmec announced it would acquire ‘certain assets and the Forgacs name’ with the aim of expanding their business to include defence services.

Following the due diligence process and subsequent negotiations the company decided that the acquisition will include the Forgacs name, the shipyard facilities, and the assets located at Tomago, New South Wales.

The purpose-built shipyard at Tomago is situated on the Hunter River, just 14 kilometres from the Port of Newcastle. The 22.7 hectare site includes 535 metres of river frontage with two ship basins.

Civmec will develop the Tomago site to operate as a multi-disciplinary facility which will in future replicate Civmec’s flagship operations at Henderson, Western Australia.

Civmec CEO Pat Tallon said: “This acquisition gives us a strong presence on the East Coast of Australia, enabling us to establish a more substantial East Coast office to provide national and regional clients with a range of services in line with those we currently provide on the West Coast of Australia. It also ensures that we are well positioned immediately to capitalise on the significant ongoing infrastructure expenditure on the East Coast.”

“Our initial focus will be on steel fabrication and precast concrete manufacture and over time we intend to combine the credibility of both the Tomago purpose-built ship building facilities and Civmec’s heavy engineering expertise to further strengthen our defence service offering.”

In 2015, the company also joined forces with the German shipbuilder Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems to compete in the race for the Australian multi-billion submarine build. Reports in the media from last month said that the German engineering solution fell out of the race but the company duo neither confirmed nor denied these reports.