Gloucester subsea products manufacturing company makes major acquisition

Published by

Nicky Godding

A leading designer and manufacturer of subsea products, Advanced Insulation, based in Gloucester has acquired Bardot, a French-based specialist who engineer and design all S.U.R.F functions based on polymers, syntactic or steel technologies.

As part of the acquisition, a new company, AIS Bardot has been created. The companies will operate independently but collaborate with Advanced Insulation to bring a wider range of products to both company’s customers.

Greg Hue, currently Advanced Insulation's Global Sales Manager, will become country manager for France.

This acquisition comes just weeks after Advanced Insulation announced the expansion into a new unit in Gloucester to meet increasing demand for their subsea product range.

Andrew Bennion, Group Managing Director, said: “This acquisition perfectly aligns with our growth strategy and meets criteria that we have already set out including: technology that complements our existing business, strong customer base and the ability to leverage our effective operating model.

He continued: “While Covid-19 has created some unexpected challenges, we are confident that our agility and continued investment in research and development will deliver continued growth.”

The Bardot Group is well known as a designer and manufacturer of polyurethane moulded products including bend restrictors and bend stiffeners. They have developed a range of additional solutions (e.g. subsea buoyancy, water intake risers, ballast systems, clamps etc.) to support the oil and gas and renewables sectors which complements and extends Advanced Insulation’s current product range.

In 2018, Advanced Insulation, bought insulation jacket manufacturer Isoremov to aid growth of market share in Brazil, from its base in Jaguariúna.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.