By Dominic Chopping
Norwegian oil services company Seadrill Ltd. (SDRL) Wednesday
announced the sale of Seadrill Polaris Ltd., the entity that owns
and operates the West Polaris ultra-deepwater drillship, in a deal
the company estimates will be worth $750 million.
The buyer is Seadrill Operating LP who will pay $204 million in
cash, assume $336 million of outstanding debt, and use $50 million
of seller's credit which carries an interest rate of 6.5% a
year.
In addition, Seadrill will also receive around $60 million a
year from work the drillship is currently carrying out, plus 50% of
any dayrate above $450,000 that the drillship earns until 2025.
In total, the deal is expected to be worth $750 million to
Seadrill, it said.
"The Board is pleased to announce a transaction that serves to
realize value from multiple sources in addition to the sale price,
while at the same time supporting an important associated company
in its goals to increase distribution coverage, asset
diversification and revenue backlog," Seadrill said.
-Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; Twitter:
@WSJNordics
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