John Fredriksen continues to divest his stake in the financially troubled offshore driller Seadrill, reducing ownership to just under 20%.
Fredriksen’s Hemen Holding yesterday sold 85,000 shares in Seadrill, the latter said on the Oslo Exchange. Following the transaction, Hemen Holding owns around 20.07m shares in Seadrill, which represents 19.9% of the shares and votes in the company. Almost a month ago, Fredriksen offloaded 100,000 shares in Seadrill, reducing his stake to just under 25%.
The offshore driller struck a deal with most of its lenders last month to implement a new rescue plan that would see the company raise $350m in new financing and slash its debt by around $5bn. The plan, if implemented, would see the current shareholders retain 0.25% of the company.
Seadrill is in its second bankruptcy proceedings in the US in a few years. The company recognised a $605m loss in the second quarter and reported a backlog of $2.1bn. Seadrill is trading between NOK2.02 and NOK2.06 today, down some 5% since the previous close.
