Venture capital group Centaurus is back in the Netherlands, this time with its sights set on SBM Offshore, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday.

SBM Offshore provides equipment and services to the offshore oil and gas industries. Shareholders’ registers show Centaurus has less than 3% of SBM Offshore stock but wants the company to switch to tax-friendly US finance to fund its fleet, the FD says.

Centaurus says if SBM makes the switch to ‘Master Limited Partnerships’, which are popular with US energy investors, the company will again be able to pay out ‘normal’ dividends.

Capital

‘As world leader… SBM will have major capital needs in the coming decades,’ the paper quotes Centaurus partner Torbjorn Haugen as saying. ‘That is why we have suggested MLPs as an alternative source of financing.’

SBM’s finance chief Peter van Rossum has rejected the suggestion, saying MLPs are too rigid and that they fall under the US supervisory regime.

Prior to the start of the financial crisis, Centaurus was involved with chip machinery maker ASMI, the Stork engineering group and supermarket firm Ahold.