KKR and Goldman seize control of British oil group Expro

A British-based oilfield services group employing thousands of people is to fall under the control of a quartet of investment funds as part of a financial overhaul triggered by sharp falls in oil prices.

Sky News understands that Expro International will announce within weeks that lenders including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and Highbridge, one of the world's largest hedge funds, will own roughly 70% of the company following a debt-for-equity swap.

Sources said confirmation of the news could come as soon as the end of next week.

If completed, it will be one of the largest restructurings of a UK-based oil services company since the decline in oil prices prompted the industry to slash capital expenditure, rein in dividends and take the axe to tens of thousands of jobs.

The four new shareholders in Expro, which will also include KKR and Park Square, will exchange roughly $800m of existing debt for equity, giving them a controlling stake.

Goldman's private equity funds and Arle Capital, which have owned Expro since 2008, will be left with about 30% of the shares.

Expro works with the world's biggest oil explorers to assist with production, often in difficult locations. It produced the first oil for Exxonmobil in Russia in 2005, and has grown through a string of acquisitions, including that of PowerWell Services in 2006.

Founded in Great Yarmouth in 1973, Expro is now based in Reading and until 2014 was targeting a stock market listing or sale that could have valued it at £3bn.

Candover - as Arle was then known - Goldman and Alpinvest took Expro private in the summer of 2008 following a fierce £1.8bn bidding war with Halliburton (Hanover: HAL.HA - news) , the US-based oil services group.

Until earlier this year, Expro was run by Charles Woodburn, who is now an executive at BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) , the defence contractor, and is expected to take the top job at the company in the next couple of years.

Expro announced a 30% fall in revenue for the year to March 31, with adjusted pre-tax profits down by a similar percentage.

Mr Woodburn's successor, Mike Jardon, said at the time of the results announcement that Expro had outperformed its peers, and that it was "well-positioned for the cycle upside".

An Expro spokesman declined to comment.