Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG) on Monday announced that it struck a deal with Transocean Partners LLC (NYSE:RIGP) to acquire the remaining stake for $250 million.
The deal is part of a strategy to reduce costs and increase its cash. Prior to the deal, transocean already owned 52% of the limited liability company’s stock. The deal is currently pending approval from stockholders of more than half the units that are not already owned by Transocean and the final verdict of the acquisition will be released before the end of the year. The terms of the deal dictate that Stockholders at Transocean Partners will each receive 1.1427 Transocean shares for each of their units.
The transaction means that Transocean partners will part with more than 15% of their unit’s closing price by the end of the week. Transocean will issue 22.7 million shares as part of the agreement. Transocean has already committed 21.3 million units for the deal leaving an extra 9.9 million which is equivalent to 50.1% of the 19.7 million units not held by its stakeholders as a requirement for the deal. Officials do not expect the merger to be taxable to the unitholders of Transocean Partners. The company’s minimum quarterly distribution of 32.25 cents per unit will be paid out in the fourth quarter rather than the third quarter.
The deal will allow Transocean to take up 51% ownership interests in Transocean Partners’ Discover Clear Leader, Discover Driller III, and Discover Inspiration. Jeremy Thigpen, the President, and CEO of Transocean released a statement in through which he pointed out that the unitholders will enjoy a premium on top of the current unit price. They will also have demonstrated access to meaningfully improved liquidity of the shares and noteworthy flexibility in finances. The CEO also stated that his firm expects common unitholders to enjoy some benefits from the larger fleet that Transocean will have as well as its diversity and its industry-leading and high-profilebacklog.
