July Company News, Mergers & Acquisitions: CECO, Holly Energy, Caterpillar and more

On June 5, 1964, from salesman Ernest Hotze’s desire to provide his customers with needed parts for a compressor on a gas pipeline, Compressor Engineering Corporation (CECO) was formed. From its early days in Hotze’s garage, CECO has grown into a family of companies, with locations across Texas and the South, becoming a leader in providing products and services to gas pipelines, gathering and processing companies, petrochemical, industrial and refrigeration plants worldwide.

Hotze died in 1995, but four sons -- Bruce, Mark, David and Richard -- are involved in daily operations, and Ernest’s widow Margaret and son Steven sit on the boards of the privately held companies. Bruce Hotze, CEO, said the key to CECO’s success is to follow his father’s entrepreneurial example and remember his slogan, “Find a need and fill it.”

Holly Energy Partners has acquired Holly Corporation’s newly constructed 16-inch pipeline connecting Holly's refining facilities in Lovington, NM to Holly's refining facilities in Artesia, NM. The purchase price was $34.2 million. Holly Energy also has invested $7.9 million for additional pipeline infrastructure improvements on the intermediate pipelines between Holly's Lovington and Artesia refining facilities.

The first Cat® branded retail lifestyle store has opened in Dubai. The Caterpillar Inc. store represents the first of several Cat-branded lifestyle stores planned in test markets around the world in the next two years.

NATCO, a leading provider of process equipment, systems and services, including proprietary equipment and technologies, to the worldwide oil and gas industry, is being acquired by Cameron in an all-stock transaction valued at about $789 million.

Devon Energy plans to combine its International and Gulf Divisions into one division. The integration will provide greater focus and efficiency to these areas of operations which have similar scope, technical requirements and strategy. The newly formed Offshore Division will remain in Houston.

Tony D. Vaughn has been named senior vice president and will lead the Offshore Division.

Dresser-Rand Company, an affiliate of Dresser-Rand Group Inc., and Samsung Techwin Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Samsung Group in Korea, have agreed to cooperate in packaging and selling engineered centrifugal compressors and gas turbines. The agreement calls for exclusive packaging of Dresser-Rand DATUM centrifugal compressors and VECTRA power turbines for mechanical and generator-drive applications to supply Korean-based shipyards and engineering companies for oil and gas market applications, as well as to supply the local Korean market.

Nucor Steel Louisiana LLC has begun buying property in St. James Parish for a proposed multi-phase iron and steel facility. The company completed its first purchase of nearly 890 acres of land in St. James Parish for $16.3 million. If Nucor selects Louisiana and all phases are fully implemented, it would create more than 1,250 direct permanent jobs with an annual payroll of nearly $95 million and a total of approximately $4 billion in capital investment. Nucor will not make a final site-selection decision until its air quality permit is approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.