A JOBS finder says new owners for a service company on Teesside will strengthen the area's position as a world class centre.

Neil Etherington, chief executive of the Tees Valley Development Company (TVDC), says Singapore-based SembCorp Utilities acquisition of service provider Enron Teesside Operations Limited (ETOL) is excellent news for the workforce and the local economy.

He revealed the TVDC had been working with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and the Teesside Chemical Initiative in discussions with ETOL since last autumn.

Mr Etherington said: "We believed it was vital to ensure the future of ETOL, not simply because it employs in its own right some 600 people and is the major landlord for the industry, but because the service it provides - ranging from the Wilton power station and water treatment plant to pipelines, electrical distribution systems and rail links - are at the very heart of our chemicals industry.

"What we were looking for was a new owner with an understanding of the scale of the ETOL operation and the services it provides to every leading chemical company in the area. We have achieved exactly that with the SembCorp Utilities. They have pioneered the development of multi-utility services and operate the massive Jurong Island facility in Singapore which is similar in many ways to the ETOL business.''

ETOL was left operating with help from the banks while looking for a buyer following the collapse of the Enron empire amid an accountancy scandal in the US last November.