The Houston-based offshore EPCI player, McDermott, has reportedly struck a deal to acquire the pipelay and construction vessel Ceona Amazon, previously owned by the SURF contractor Ceona.

Ceona fell into administration in 2015 resulting in over 100 redundancies, and left the company assets up for sale, including the Ceona Amazon, in the hands of administrators.

According to the shipbroking company Nor-Ocean, who cited industry sources in its weekly newsletter, the acquisition price for the vessels is estimated around USD 80 million.

Nor-Ocean said it believes that with this acquisition McDermott adds a top-line deepwater installation spread, which enables the company to go head-to-head with the Tier-1 subsea installation companies.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in February and would represent a 75-80 percent discount to the newbuild price of approximately USD 350 million.

Shipbuilding specialist Lloyd Werft delivered the almost 200 meters long Ceona Amazon at the end of 2104. The ship was expected to enter service in March 2015.