Travers Smith LLP has advised Paragon Offshore plc and Noble Corporation plc on the creation of Paragon and its demerger from Noble Group, which became effective on 1 August 2014. Paragon is listed on NYSE. Trading in its shares commenced on 4 August 2014.
Houston-headquartered Paragon is a leading provider of standard specification offshore delivery units serving oil and gas industry. Its fleet consists of 42 mobile offshore drilling units (34 jackups, five drillships and three semisubmersibles) and one FPSO. Following its separation from Noble Corporation, Paragon will operate standard specification shallow water, midwater and deepwater assets, while Noble will continue to own and operate the high-specification and ultradeepwater units.
The Travers Smith cross-departmental team, which provided advice on English law aspects of the deal, was led by corporate partner Richard Spedding. Additional specialist advice was provided by partners Simon Yates (tax), Sian Keall (employment/immigration) and Mahesh Varia (employee incentives).
Noble and Paragon have been advised on US law by Baker Botts LLP out of Houston and Dallas, led by David Emmons and Hillary Holmes.
UK based Noble-Corporation, which is of the largest offshore drilling contractors in the world, is an existing client of the firm. In 2013, Travers Smith advised Noble as English law counsel on its migration from Switzerland to the UK.
