June 3 - ASCO Marine, a subsidiary of the Aberdeen-based international oil and gas logistics specialist ASCO Group, has acquired Seletar Shipping, which is also Aberdeen-based and provides ships agency and related services to clients in the offshore, frei

Shaun Eardley, managing director of Seletar, will retain a shareholding in the business and will continue in his current role.

ASCO see the deal as providing a platform for the international development of its marine services division.

Chief executive Billy Allan said: "Over the last two years we have been developing our logistics activities in Trinidad, Canada, Norway and Azerbaijan. The next step is to launch our marine capabilities in these markets and the Seletar deal gives us the scale needed for this."

Shaun Eardley said: "We have built an excellent business over the last 22 years, but it has become clear to us that we needed to be part of a larger and more suitably resourced organisation in order to move on to the next stage."

According to an ASCO statement, all of Seletar's 55 employees in Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth are transferring to ASCO and there will be no job losses as a result of the deal.