Candover appoints Dickinson

Candover has announced the appointment of Mark Dickinson as a director. Dickinson has joined Candover from 3i where he worked for 10 years in Leeds, Aberdeen and latterly, London. He has been responsible for leading several buyouts at 3i, principally in the support services, leisure and oil and gas sectors, most recently the US$700m (€471m) buyout of Dockwise, the oil and gas rig transportation business.

Dockwise merged with Sealift and was listed on the Oslo OTC market in Norway with an enterprise value of US$2bn (€1.35bn) in May 2007. Dickenson also led 3i’s participation in the US$925m (€622.4m) acquisition of Vetco International, a leading supplier of products and services to the global upstream oil and gas industry, alongside Candover and JPMorgan.

Vetco’s two component businesses were sold to GE Capital for US$1.9bn (€1.28bn) and Ferd Private Equity for US$900m (€605.6m) in 2007, generating a return of 4.1x for the investor syndicate.

Commenting on the appointment, Colin Buffin, managing director of Candover, said: “Mark is a great addition to the Candover team – he is a proven deal-doer with over 10 years of experience. The recent credit correction will inevitably produce some very interesting opportunities, which will need an innovative approach to create value. Mark’s track record of value creation will be put to good use as we make sure we see as many of these opportunities as possible.”