3 Minutes to Read (Reuters) – LONDON (Reuters) – According to officials, Lloyd’s Register (LR), a British professional services provider, has decided to sell its business assurance and cyber security section to Goldman Sachs Asset Management as the company focuses on maritime activities. A placard is placed in the Goldman Sachs reception in Sydney, Australia, on May 18, 2016. David Gray/REUTERS/File Photo The merger is scheduled to close in the second half of 2021, pending regulatory approval, according to the firms. When asked how much the deal was worth, an LR spokeswoman claimed it was “far over $100 million.” LR’s business assurance and inspection services section, dubbed LRQA, provides auditing and certification services, with a focus on the food, automotive, telecoms, manufacturing, and energy industries. Nettitude, LR’s cyber security business, is part of the unit. In a statement on its LRQA investment, Michael Bruun, EMEA head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s private equity group, said the firm “looks forward to boosting the company’s growth trajectory both organically and through acquisitions.” With an investment in Oslo-listed workplace health and safety software vendor EcoOnline, Goldman Sachs has already made a push into the business assurance market. The LRQA acquisition comes after LR sold its energy division to investment firm Inspirit Capital last year. The deal came at a time “when there is a compelling demand for experienced marine advisers to lead customers through fundamental transformation and to help support their digitization and decarbonisation aspirations,” according to LR’s chief executive Nick Brown. “Our goal is to be the maritime industry’s and the larger ocean economy’s go-to partner and trusted adviser for compliance, performance, and sustainability,” Brown told Reuters. For more than two centuries, LR has been a global leader in ship certification. Global shipping contributes for about 3% of global CO2 emissions, with about 90% of global trade moved by sea. Multiple private efforts are emerging as pressure from investors and environmentalists intensifies, making decarbonisation one of the industry’s top concerns in the next decades. Nick Zieminski did the editing. Continue reading
