AN Aberdeen-headquartered engineering firm which employs 3500 people around the world has been sold in a deal believed to be worth about £450 million.

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group, which is NASDAQ listed, has bought EnerMech from Lime Rock Partners.

The sale is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

EnerMech works on large scale projects across the oil and gas, LNG, renewables, defence, power, infrastructure and petrochemicals sectors. Last month, it reported revenues of £361m million and profits of £43.6m for 2017 and forecast that 2018 revenues were expected to reach £430m, with profits of about £59m.

The firm was formed 10 years ago by chief executive officer Doug Duguid and chief financial officer Michael Buchan. Both will remain in their current positions.