Plexus inks agreement with major Chinese player

Oil and gas engineering firm Plexus has finalised a licence agreement with Shenzhen stock exchange listed Yantai Jereh Oilfield Services Group, the company said on Thursday.Plexus said the contract with Yantai Jereh, which gave it an exclusive licence in China, was a milestone for the company.The agreement was expected to facilitate the rental sale and manufacture of Plexus' wellhead equipment into the major Chinese and wider Asian markets.Under the deal, Yantai Jereh subsidiary Jereh International (Hong Kong) would take a 5% stake in Plexus, after being issued about £8m in shares at 180p per share.Plexus chief executive Ben Van Bilderbeek said the agreement moved Plexus from a supplier of specialist wellhead equipment for exacting applications into the main stream volume market."The timing of this union is most appropriate as Plexus is launching its Python subsea wellhead system at the Aberdeen Offshore Europe Exhibition in September 2015, whilst Jereh is focused on developing its supply chain into Brazil where the subsea applications from our unique technology have the potential of delivering the greatest dividend," Van Bilderbeek said.Shares in Plexus were up 1.66% to 229.75p at 09:03 on Thursday.