Four Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 ultra-premium jack-up drill rigs are being built in Singapore for Offshore Group, each worth $220 million.
"We are entering into the offshore drilling market with the highest quality assets available,” Vantage chief exec Paul Bragg said in a statement.
Bragg’s company will change addresses from Delware to the Cayman Islands after the deal, which will pay F3 Fund $56 million in cash and $275 million in current and future shares. The Houston-based Vantage must also pay $557 million in leftover rig-building and outfitting costs. To that end, “a major European bank” has provided for debt financing worth $440 million.
An option to buy an ultra-deepwater drillship under development was also thrown in, with six months after rig delivery to execute. The Taiwan Marine Transport design could be among the world's largest and best equipped for ultra-deepwater drilling.
Vantage was formed “for the specific purpose of consummating a business combination in the oilfield services industry”.
