Songa boss quits as Transocean gets approval for acquisition of remaining Songa shares

Offshore driller Transocean has received regulatory approval for the compulsory acquisition of remaining shares in Songa Offshore. Following the approval, Songa Offshore CEO has resigned. 

Transocean reached an agreement with Songa Offshore to acquire 100 percent of shares of Songa Offshore back in August 2017.

The deal, estimated to be worth $3.4 billion, was approved by Transocean’s shareholders on January 18 and completed later that month.

Upon completion, Transocean owned 187,390,391 Songa Offshore shares representing 97.5% of the total shares in Songa Offshore on a fully diluted basis.

Transocean said on Thursday that it expected to complete the compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Transocean added that it also received approval for a supplemental prospectus, which relates to the acquisition, from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway on March 7, 2018.

The subscription period in the compulsory acquisition began on February 20, 2018, and expires on March 20, 2018.

Transocean said it would pursue a delisting of the Songa Offshore shares from the Oslo Stock Exchange as soon as the compulsory acquisition is complete.

The consideration for the compulsory acquisition will consist of a choice between a combination per Songa Offshore share of 0.35724 newly issued consideration shares and $2.99726 principal amount of new exchangeable bonds, with up to NOK 125,000 being payable in cash based upon NOK 47.50 ($6.07) per Songa Offshore share, or NOK 47.50 per Songa Offshore share in cash.

Songa Offshore shareholders who do not choose a consideration will receive NOK 47.50 per Songa share.

In a separate statement on Thursday, Songa Offshore said that Bjørnar Iversen, the company’s CEO, had resigned effective March 6.

Earlier this month, Songa Offshore also received the resignation of the company’s chief financial officer, Jan Rune Steinsland.

Offshore Energy Today Staff