CTC Marine Projects, the Darlington-based marine trenching contractor, is to be acquired by DeepOcean ASA of Norway for £76m. The purchase price (excluding debt) consists of an initial consideration of £45.8m in cash and shares, and two further deferred payments of up to £10m and £4.2m depending on CTC's EBITDA for the 2007 and 2008 financial years respectively. CTC will operate as a stand-alone subsidiary within the Deep Ocean Group. "DeepOcean and CTC is a perfect match both strategically and culturally." said Charles Tompkins, founder of Deep Ocean. "This agreement will provide, in the short term, access to a larger vessel fleet, improved access to the important Norwegian and Mexican markets and the ability to offer bundled pipe-lay support services. In the medium term, this agreement will strengthen the combined company’s global opportunities, and deliverer both economies of scale and create value."