Oilfield services firm Noble Corporation plc (NE) entered into a cash and stock deal on June 10, 2024, to acquire its rival Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (DO) for about $2.15 billion.
As per the terms of the agreement, Diamond Offshore shareholders will receive 0.2316 shares of Noble, plus a cash consideration of $5.65 per share for each share of Diamond Offshore stock, representing a premium of 11.41% from the stock’s last close.
Diamond Offshore is a global contract drilling service provider with a fleet of 13 offshore drilling rigs, which include drillships and semisubmersible rigs.
Noble Corp is an offshore drilling contractor for the oil and gas industry. The company has a fleet of 32 drilling rigs and provides contract drilling services worldwide. Noble focuses on high-specification floating and jack-up rigs, prioritizing safe operations, environmental stewardship, and superior performance.
There’s been a recent trend in the oil and gas industry where major oil producers are acquiring fracking companies to increase their reserves like ExxonMobil’s (XOM) acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD), Diamondback’s (FANG) deal to buy privately-held Endeavor. and Chevron’s (CVX) deal for Hess (HES).
Even in the oilfields sector, oilfield services firm Schlumberger Limited (SLB) acquired ChampionX (CHX) earlier this year to add new technology offerings for $8.22 billion.
Noble expects this deal to benefit its shareholders. Noble’s Chief Executive Officer Robert Eifler said, “Supported by Diamond Offshore’s $2.1 billion of backlog and $100 million of anticipated cost synergies, we expect the transaction to be immediately accretive to our free cash flow per share and contribute to accelerated growth in our return of capital to shareholders.”
Diamond Offshore’s current EV/EBITDA (TTM) ratio is 10.2, above the sector median of 6.28.
Noble intends to fund the cash portion of the transaction through new debt financing, which Noble has secured through a $600 million committed bridge financing facility. The transaction is expected to close by the first quarter of 2025.
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Editor’s Note: Baranjot Kaur contributed to this article