USA: Seadrill says NO to Ensco’s Offer for Scorpion Offshore Ltd.

Reference is made to the conditional offer by Ensco to acquire shares in Scorpion Offshore Ltd that was disclosed on May 27 this year.

The Board in Seadrill has decided not to accept Ensco’s conditional offer for the shares in Scorpion Offshore Ltd. Seadrill is currently considering if they should raise our offer price per share in order to secure more than 50 percent ownership in Scorpion. The strengthening in the US dollar since the originally Seadrill bid of NOK36 per share was launched gives Seadrill room for an increase in the offer price. However, the financial commitments to third parties entered into by the Board of Scorpion subsequent to our offer reduce the value of Scorpion for Seadrill. As Seadrill has no intention of accepting the current offer from Ensco, they encourage other shareholders to do the same.

[mappress]

Source:Seadrill, May 28, 2010;