BoS buys 10% Blue Ocean stake

BANK of Scotland (Ireland) has acquired a 10% stake in Irish communications company Blue Ocean Wireless for €3.6 million ($4.8m).

The investment, announced yesterday valued Blue Ocean Wireless (BOW) at $48 million.

BOW provides mobile communications to the merchant maritime sector and is a joint venture between Claret Capital, a private equity group, and Altobridge, a Tralee-based technology group.

Investment director with Bank of Scotland (Ireland), Claire Carroll said: “Blue Ocean Wireless represents a compelling and relatively rare opportunity for us to invest in an Irish business that is immediately serving a global market.

“Maritime mobile services for the 1.25 million people working in the merchant marine industry is an unserved sector in the vast world of telecommunications, and we are delighted to partner with Claret Capital and Altobridge.”

BOW will, along with Inmarsat, Stratos and a GSM network operator, provide global GSM services for crew members of merchant ships.

This service will enable seafarers to use their existing mobile phones on board vessels in deep ocean water.

Blue Ocean chief executive Robert Johnson said: “Our GSM service is a unique application via Inmarsat for the merchant maritime sector and we are rapidly making progress towards our first customer deployment.”