Ensco plc to Acquire Pride International, Inc.
Ensco plc (NYSE: ESV) and Pride International, Inc. (NYSE: PDE) jointly announced today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Ensco will combine with Pride in a cash and stock transaction valued at $41.60 per share based on Ensco’s closing share price on 4 February 2011. The implied offer price represents a premium of 21% to Pride’s closing share price as of the same date and a premium of 25% to the one month volume weighted average closing price of Pride. The definitive merger agreement was unanimously approved by each company’s board of directors.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Pride stockholders will receive 0.4778 newly-issued shares of Ensco plus $15.60 in cash for each share of Pride common stock. Upon closing, and reflecting the issuance of new Ensco shares, Pride stockholders collectively will own approximately 38% of Ensco’s outstanding shares.
Ensco expects the combined company to realize annual pre-tax expense synergies of at least $50 million for full year 2012 and beyond. The combination is projected by Ensco management to be immediately accretive to Ensco’s earnings and cash flow per share before synergies.
The transaction will create the second largest offshore driller in the world with 74 rigs spanning all of the strategic, high-growth markets around the globe. The combined company will have 21 ultra-deepwater and deepwater rigs, forming the second largest/youngest fleet able to drill in water depths of 4,500’ or greater. In addition, the combined company will have more active jackup rigs than any other driller. Mid-water rigs will represent 8% of the combined fleet.
Based on the closing price of each company’s shares on 4 February 2011, the estimated enterprise value of the combined company is $16 billion. The total estimated revenue backlog for the combined company is approximately $10 billion.
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