Transocean Shareholders OK Ocean Rig Acquisition

Transocean, international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells, has announced that its shareholders approved the acquisition of Ocean Rig UDW, by approving the proposals presented at Transocean’s Extraordinary General Meeting.  

Switzerland-based offshore drilling contractor quoted its President and CEO Jeremy Thigpen in a press release, as saying: "We are extremely pleased that our shareholders have overwhelmingly approved our acquisition of Ocean Rig. Through this combination, Transocean further enhances our industry-leading fleet of high specification floaters, thus improving our competitive position."

Thigpen added: "We are excited to begin actively marketing these assets into the growing list of opportunities we continue to see emerging across our global customer base. We look forward to closing the transaction in the coming days and welcoming Ocean Rig’s experienced crews into the company."

Two months ago, Transocean and Ocean Rig entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Transocean will acquire Ocean Rig in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $2.7 billion, inclusive of Ocean Rig’s net debt.

Ocean Rig is an international offshore drilling contractor providing oilfield services for offshore oil and gas exploration, development and production drilling, and specializing in the ultra-deepwater and harsh environment segment of the offshore drilling industry.

Transocean specializes in technically demanding sectors of the global offshore drilling business with a particular focus on ultra-deepwater and harsh environment drilling services, and believes that it operates one of the most versatile offshore drilling fleets in the world.

Transocean owns or has partial ownership interests in, and operates a fleet of 41 mobile offshore drilling units consisting of 23 ultra-deepwater floaters, 12 harsh environment floaters, two deepwater floaters and four midwater floaters.