Will Honeybourne, a First Reserve managing director in Houston who helped spearhead the deal--and beat out rival buyout shop Candover--notes that Abbot's rig-building and operating subsidiaries Bentec and KCA Deutag are particularly strong in Russia, West Africa, the Middle East and Libya.
"The companies need more than a 'wow' technology that they think will make the world beat a path to their door, " said Trish Fleming, the executive director of MIT's Enterprise Forum in Cambridge, Mass.