Seadrill, the London-based listed drilling rig and ship owner in John Fredriksen’s business empire, says it has agreed to sell the 2008-built ultra deepwater rig West Polaris to Seadrill Partners, a listed spin-off company.
The deal sees Seadrill Operating LP – 58% owned by Seadrill Partners LLC – acquire Seadrill Polaris, the company that owns and operates West Polaris. The acquisition is expected to close within seven days.
Seadrill Partners is a growth-oriented limited liability company recently formed by Seadrill Limited to own, operate, and acquire offshore drilling rigs.
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“The West Polaris is a sixth-generation, dynamically positioned drillship delivered from the Samsung shipyard in 2008. The West Polaris is expected to carry out operations in Angola until the end of its contract with ExxonMobil in March 2018,” Seadrill said.
“The total consideration for the Polaris Acquisition is comprised of USD204 million in cash and USD336 million of debt outstanding under the existing facility financing the West Polaris. Seadrill Operating will fund the balance of the purchase price with a seller’s credit of USD50 million due in 2021 that carries an interest rate of 6.5% per annum,” Seadrill said.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
