IPO Filing: Forum Oilfield Technologies

Forum Oilfield Technologies, Inc. has registered to sell up to $345 Million in common stock via an initial public offering.  So far in the filing it only lists Credit Suisse and JPMorgan as the underwriters. Forum has been given the proposed ticker of "FOT" on the New York Stock Exchange.

By the companies name, you can guess they aren’t an internet play, nor are they a medical tech company.  The company designs, manufactures and supplies drilling and flow control products for oil and natural gas drilling and production applications worldwide.  Some of the products include mud pump refurbishment, centrifugal pumps, iron roughnecks, manual tools, elevators, offshore deepwater 1000 ton elevators, drive refurbishments, monitor systems, guages and instruments, bearings, fluid end pump parts, powered mouseholes, choke & kill manifolds, hydraulic catwalks, back savers and much more.  Forum sells to onshore and offshore drilling related companies and in the six-months ended June 30 it generated about 30% of its sales outside of North America.

The company makes parts and does refurbishments, but it is not a direct builder of drilling rigs.  It has more than 500 customers, but there is something investors in this will want to know form the company:
Access Oil Tools, Inc., our predecessor for financial reporting purposes, began as a manufacturer of manual tubular handling equipment in 1985. In early 2005, management of Access Oil Tools and SCF Partners, a private equity firm that focuses on investments in the oilfield services segment of the energy industry, formulated a strategy to take advantage of the growing market opportunity to supply expendable products to the drilling industry and capital products for the growing drilling rig refurbishment and upgrade market. Following an investment from SCF Partners in May 2005, Forum was established from Access Oil Tools to execute this strategy. Since SCF’s investment in Access Oil Tools, we have grown our business both organically and through strategic acquisitions.

It generated $300.734 million in pro forma 2006 revenues and net income on a pro forma basis was $34.74 million.

Jon C. Ogg
October 17, 2007