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* Fajr Capital, APICORP, Zamil Group consortium eyes NPSEnergy
* NPS Energy sale may fetch between $500-$700 mln - sources
* NPS deal with Norway's Aker Solutions failed last year
By Dinesh Nair
DUBAI, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A group of Gulf investors led byFajr Capital are in talks to buy Dubai-based oil services firmNPS Energy for up to $700 million, three sources aware of thematter said.
NPS Energy put itself up for sale again after a deal to bebought by Norway's Aker Solutions fell apart lastyear, Reuters reported in September.
Aside from Fajr, a Dubai-based investment firm backed byMalaysian state fund Khazanah Nasional, theconsortium includes APICORP, a development bank established bythe Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries andSaudi-Arabia based investment holding company Zamil Group, thesources said, requesting anonymity as the matter is not public.
A sale of NPS Energy could be worth between $500-$700million, the sources said, adding the parties are yet to agreeon a deal.
"A regional consortium makes a lot of sense for NPS as theasset is pretty large for a single local buyer and looks likeinternationals are not too keen," one of the sources said.
HSBC Holdings is running the sale process for NPS.The British lender declined to comment.
NPS Energy's Chief Executive Adnan Ghabris declined tocomment. Spokesmen for Fajr Capital and APICORP in Dubaideclined to comment, while Zamil Group did not immediatelyrespond to a Reuters email seeking comment.
NPS Energy is part of oilfield services company NationalPetroleum Services, which was formed in 2004 from the merger ofoilfield businesses owned by two large family-owned groups inSaudi Arabia and Qatar.
Demand for oilfield services in the Middle East, the world'stop oil producing region, has risen in the last few years.
NPS Energy employs around 800-900 people and offers servicessuch as coil tubing, wire-line services, cementing, pressurepumping, well logging and testing.
The company, which one banking source said made earningsbefore interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about $50million in 2012, counts firms such as Saudi Aramco, the world'stop oil producer, and state-owned Qatar Petroleum among its clients.
Fajr Capital has state entities such as Khazanah Nasional,Abu Dhabi Investment Council and the government of Brunei amongits shareholders. APICORP has been scouting for acquisitions inthe oil and commodities space and last month bought anadditional 10 percent stake in Egyptian methanol producerEMethanex from one of its joint venture partner.
Khobar-based Zamil Group has interests in businesses rangingfrom manufacturing air conditioners to steel fabrication andemploys around 12,000 people according to its website.
Last year, Gulf Capital, an Abu Dhabi-based private equityfirm, put its majority-owned oil and gas services firm, GulfMarine Sevices, on the block, hoping to raise about $500 millionbut the talks collapsed over valuation.
Gulf Capital has hired investment bank Rothschild as a financial adviser for a planned initial public offering(IPO) of the unit on an overseas exchange in 2014, the firm'schief executive said in September.
