VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into
Babcock International
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
in the early 2010s. In July 2012, The Resolute Fund II, LP, an affiliate of The Jordan Company acquired VT Group.
History
VT Group plc was a British defense and services company, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft. The company had diversified from shipbuilding into various engineering and support services, becoming involved in many areas of provision through five main operating groups:
VT Communications
VT Communications was a part of VT Group plc. VT Communications was essentially the company formed from the privatisation of the BBC World Service transmitter sites. It was initially named Merlin Communications, then, after acquisition by VT, ...
, VT Education and Skills, VT Services Inc and VT Support Services. VT Group exited the shipbuilding industry in October 2009, after selling its 45% share of the Shipbuilding Joint Venture company
BVT Surface Fleet to
BAE Systems. Formerly listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
and a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index, the remainder of the firm was acquired by Babcock International Group in July 2010.
The company was formed by the merger of two shipbuilding companies
Vosper Limited of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and
J I Thornycroft
John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm founded by John Isaac Thornycroft in Chiswick in 1866. It moved to Woolston, Southampton, in 1908, merging in 1966 with Vosper & Comp ...
of
Woolston
Woolston may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Woolston, Cheshire, a village and civil parish in Warrington
* Woolston, Devon, on the list of United Kingdom locations: Woof-Wy near Kingsbridge, Devon
* Woolston, Southampton, a city suburb in Ham ...
,
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
in 1966, at which time the Company became listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
as ''Vosper Thornycroft''.
''Vosper Ltd'' built small boats and ''J I Thornycroft'' had a long history of building destroyers and similar sized craft. The company was
nationalised by the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Government in 1977, becoming a division of
British Shipbuilders. It became a commercial company again after a
management buyout in 1985.
Vosper Thornycroft flourished even during lean times for warship building, mainly through successful sales efforts in exports and diversification outside the core shipbuilding business into training and support. In 1998, Vosper Thornycroft acquired the specialist military
boatbuilder
Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires.
Construction materials and methods
Wood
W ...
Halmatic, based in
Portchester
Portchester is a locality and suburb northwest of Portsmouth, England. It is part of the borough of Fareham in Hampshire. Once a small village, Portchester is now a busy part of the expanding conurbation between Portsmouth and Southampton on ...
.
In 2001, in their most ambitious diversification project, VT started work on the US$55million superyacht
Mirabella V
''M5'' is a sloop-rigged super yacht launched in 2003 as ''Mirabella V''. She is the largest single-masted yacht ever built.
Ownership
''Mirabella V'' was built as part of a fleet of large sailing yachts used for luxury private charters by Jos ...
for former Avis Car Hire boss Joe Vittoria. At the time of its completion in 2004, Mirabella V was the world's largest single-masted sailing vessel with an overall length of 75 metres and a mast height of approximately 87 metres.
From 2002, the overall business was known as VT Group plc.
Move to Portsmouth Naval Base and creation of BVT Surface Fleet
From its formation in 1966, the company was based at the former Thornycroft shipbuilding yard at
Woolston
Woolston may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Woolston, Cheshire, a village and civil parish in Warrington
* Woolston, Devon, on the list of United Kingdom locations: Woof-Wy near Kingsbridge, Devon
* Woolston, Southampton, a city suburb in Ham ...
in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, Hampshire but in 2003 relocated its shipbuilding operations to new facilities in the famous
HMNB Portsmouth Naval Dockyard under the name VT Shipbuilding. In 2008, VT Shipbuilding was merged with
BAE Systems'
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
-based
Surface Fleet Solutions subsidiary to form
BVT Surface Fleet. The VT Halmatic
boatyard site in
Portchester
Portchester is a locality and suburb northwest of Portsmouth, England. It is part of the borough of Fareham in Hampshire. Once a small village, Portchester is now a busy part of the expanding conurbation between Portsmouth and Southampton on ...
was also sold off to
Trafalgar Wharf, with Halmatic also moving into Portsmouth Naval Base.
Entry into the nuclear industry
In 2008, VT Group acquired BNG Project Services from the government-owned
British Nuclear Fuels
British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) was a nuclear energy and fuels company owned by the UK Government. It was a manufacturer of nuclear fuel (notably MOX), ran reactors, generated and sold electricity, reprocessed and managed spent fuel (main ...
for £75m. As the provider of nuclear decommissioning and waste treatment engineering services, Project Services gave VT Group access to the nuclear industry in the UK and abroad. The business was renamed VT Nuclear Services.
Exit from BVT
On 28 January 2009 VT Group announced its intention to sell its share of BVT Surface Fleet to BAE Systems. VT Group's
put option valued its share at a minimum of £380 million subject to conditions, however VT Group was expected to make a cash injection into the business to offset difficulties with contracts with Trinidad and Tobago and Oman. Following the sale of VT Group's 45% share, BVT Surface Fleet was renamed
BAE Systems Surface Ships
BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
to reflect the total ownership.
Takeover and restructuring
In 2010, the British defence and construction company
Babcock International
Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...
purchased VT Group for £1.32bn.
Babcock integrated the UK portion of VT Group into its own business. In 2012, Babcock sold VT Group, which was by then US-based, to the
private investment fund Resolute Fund II LP, linked to the
Jordan Company.
VT Group rebranded as VTG in 2020.
Subsidiaries
VT Group is composed of five subsidiaries focused on maritime, aviation, information systems and technology and manufacturing and fabrication, with more than 700 employees.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
1966 establishments in the United Kingdom
British boat builders
British Shipbuilders
Manufacturing companies established in 1966
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
2012 mergers and acquisitions
Defense companies of the United States
Companies based in Fairfax County, Virginia