Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP (NYSE: KKR) is buying a minority stake in RigNet Inc. (Nasdaq: RNET) for an undisclosed amount.

RigNet provides remote communications services and systems for the energy sector, serving offshore and onshore drilling rigs and production facilities.  

KKR will buy 4.75 million shares for a 27 percent stake in the company. The shares are being sold by Cubera, an investment firm specializing in the Nordic private equity market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We believe that the digitalization of upstream energy has only just begun. A prime example is the rapidly growing demand for broadband connectivity for oil and gas operations in remote and harsh environments,” says Mattia Caprioli, head of KKR’s services sector team in Europe.

New York-based KKR has invested more than $10 billion in the spectrum of telecommunications, technology and services sectors. Since 2009, KKR has committed about $4 billion to investments in the oil and gas sectors.

The firm was founded in 1976 by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, and has $83.5 billion in assets under management.

The deal comes during a wave of oil and gas service company acquisitions. In August, B/E Aerospace (Nasdaq: BEAV) entered the oil and gas service sector by buying Blue Dot Energy Services LLC. Also in August, USA Compression Partners LP (NYSE: USAC) agreed to pay $187 million to buy compression assets used for crude oil production. 

Energy industry