Offshore staff
SUGAR LAND, Texas and HOUSTON – Noble Corp. and Pacific Drilling Co. LLC have entered a definitive merger agreement under which Noble will acquire Pacific Drilling in an all-stock transaction.
The definitive merger agreement was unanimously approved by each company’s board of directors. The transaction has also been approved by a majority of Pacific Drilling’s equity holders. No shareholder vote is required for Noble to close the transaction.
As part of the transaction, Pacific Drilling’s equity holders will receive 16.6 million shares of Noble, or about 24.9% of the outstanding shares of the company at closing. Noble expects to realize annual pre-tax cost synergies of at least $30 million.
Also, Noble said it will move to dispose of the drillships Pacific Bora and Pacific Mistral expeditiously.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in April 2021.
According to Noble, the acquisition facilitates its reentry into the growing West Africa and Mexico regions and strengthens its presence in the US Gulf of Mexico. Also, the addition of Pacific’s ultra-deepwater drillships will allow participation in key drillship tendering activity.
Pro forma for the acquisition, Noble will own and operate a high specification fleet of 24 offshore drilling rigs: 11 drillships, one semisubmersible, and 12 jackups. The company said the combined fleet will be one of the youngest and most technologically advanced fleets in the industry. Also, the drilling contractor will have pro forma backlog of about $1.7 billion.
03/25/2021
