Seadrill buys West Polaris UDW drillship

Seadrill Limited, an offshore drilling contractor, has exercised a purchase option for the West Polaris, a 6th generation Ultra-Deepwater drillship, from Ship Finance International Limited.

The West Polaris was acquired by Ship Finance in 2008 and subsequently bareboat chartered to Seadrill with purchase options starting 2012.

The purchase option price is $456 million and total consideration payable to Ship Finance is $108 million.

The transaction will be executed as a purchase of shares in Ship Finance’s asset owning subsidiary SFL West Polaris Limited, which is currently a consolidated entity in Seadrill. Seadrill has said does not expect any immediate material impact to its financial statements as a result of this transaction.