United Safety, the Canadian oil industry safety equipment and technical services firm, has more than doubled the number of countries it operates in since Bahrain-based Energy Capital Group (ECG) took a controlling stake in the firm.

Since acquiring its holding in the company two and a half years ago, ECG has helped United Safety launch their services in a number of new Middle East markets such as Bahrain, Iran and Iraq and has led the company into being the frontrunners for several key projects in Oman, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

It has also helped the company make further inroads into the Saudi Arabian market.

Prior to its acquisition, United Safety operated in Saudi Arabia through a 50-50 joint venture with Rawabi Holding Company, and that joint venture represented only five per cent of the company's global revenue.

One year after the ECG lead acquisition, United Safety's Saudi's market share, as a percentage of their total revenue, grew to 16pc of the company's total revenue.

This was the result of ECG helping the company's management to invest in new equipment and the opening the only Middle East and North Africa (Mena) based H2S safety and general oil and gas safety services training facility.

'We are delighted with the progress made by United Safety since our acquisition of the company,' said ECG chief executive officer Ali Abdulaziz Al Turki.

'ECG is focused on investing in small- to medium-sized companies with strong near-term potential for growth globally and in the Mena markets in particular.

'These results validate ECG's ability to identify promising investments and to then leverage our regional expertise, network and strong shareholder base in order to help companies quickly establish themselves in new markets.

'At the same time, these results also demonstrate the value proposition ECG offers to investors by underscoring our ability to effectively manage and grow our investments and thus ensure our ability to generate attractive and ongoing returns for our investors and clients,' he added.

ECG, which was established in 2008, has already completed over $100 million of investments in global and Middle East energy services companies.-TradeArabia News Service