The sale of Northern Offshore to Chinese firm Shandong Offshore International Company is to be completed today.
The completion of the acquisition, via an amalgamation, will be implemented after the close of trading on the Oslo Bors this afternoon. Northern Offshore will then be delisted from the exchange.
Shandong Offshore International is forking out NOK 7.59 ($0.96) per share, payable in cash, with a total transaction valued around the NOK1.3b ($164.4m) mark.
Shandong Offshore International Company is based in Qingdao and its subsidiary Blue Ocean Drilling, based in Houston, has a number of deep water jack-up rigs on order with further options.
“The acquisition of Northern Offshore Ltd. is a positive step in our vision of building a high-performing offshore drilling organization to meet the current and future needs of the Global E&P sector. By retaining the NOF leadership team, when combined with our Blue Ocean Drilling leadership, we will have assembled a highly skilled and experienced team to direct and execute on our strategies as the new Northern Offshore Ltd. going forward,” commented Yu Bing, a director of Shandong Offshore International Company, and Dr. Sun Yuanhui, chairman of Blue Ocean Drilling Limited, when announcing the acquisition in July.
