To build its “shale-related businesses,” Houston-based oilfield services operator FMC Technologies Inc., better known for its subsea business, is acquiring Calgary’s Pure Energy Services Ltd. for US$285 million.

FMC, which announced the acquisition on Monday, has about 16,100 employees and operates 27 production facilities in 16 countries. The company designs, manufactures and services “technologically sophisticated systems” that include subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high-pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry.

Pure, which began operating in 2001, now employs about 1,300. It provides hydraulic fracturing flowback services and wireline services in North America’s onshore, most notably in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

“Consistent with our strategy to grow shale-related businesses, we are expanding into flowback services, which complement the existing products and services of our surface technologies segment,” said FMC CEO John Gremp. “Pure is an industry leader, recognized for their safety and environmental stewardship and the quality of their services, values consistent with our own.”

The acquisition, which values Pure at around C$11.00/share, is a 40% premium to the closing price last Friday. The purchase is to be accomplished through a plan of arrangement under Alberta’s Business Corporations Act, which requires approval by two-thirds of Pure shareholders, as well as the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta.

Pure has scheduled a meeting to approve the arrangement in mid-October. If the merger agreement isn’t completed by the end of October, the “price per Pure share under the arrangement will be reduced by C9 cents/share,” the companies said.

The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the arrangement. Pure’s directors and officers, who collectively hold about 18% of the issued shares, also have entered into agreements with FMC to vote in favor of the arrangement.