GD Energy Services (GDES), a Spanish group with international expertise in support services for the energy industry in operations and maintenance, surface treatment, decommissioning and emergencies, has signed a strategic purchase agreement with the French company SAP (Société d’Application de Peinture), which specialises in industrial paint and anti-corrosion coatings, acquiring 100% of its nuclear division. With this investment GDES is looking to consolidate its business in France, obtaining the human resources it will need to tackle its ambitious development plan for the French nuclear sector, with a local presence near the nuclear power plants of Tricastin, Cruas the Marcoule and Cadarache sites of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).

GDES has been expanding into the French market for several years, with chemical cleaning, technological development, surface treatment and decommissioning services for the French nuclear industry. GDES is also the only European (non-French) company that holds CAEAR certification to undertake decommissioning services for CEA in France.

GDES France has increased its consolidated turnover by 86% since 2016 and forecasts point to an increase of 41% in 2018, with a total in excess of 13 million euros. SAP, founded in 1995 in Bollene (France), has a turnover of 1.4 million euros and 24 employees; this human capital will become GDES France employees. SAP currently provides regular anti-corrosion maintenance services at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant, as well as at the Marcoule and Cadarache sites of the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).