Watson, Farley & Williams Asia Practice LLP (“WFW”), a leading international law firm, is pleased to announce that it has advised SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad (“SapuraKencana”), a major oil & gas services company headquartered in Malaysia, on the debt and equity financing of its acquisition of the entire issued share capital in Seadrill Tender Rig Ltd (“Seadrill”) and certain other related businesses and assets. The acquisition included purchasing 18 tender drilling rigs from Seadrill (6 semi-tenders, 9 tender barges and 3 newbuilds.
In addition to the equity provided by SapuraKencana, the financing also included a US$1.85 billion (RM5.5 billion) loan facility and a $US550 million (RM1.64 billion) equity placement arrangement.
In the loan facility transaction Standard Chartered Bank (“SCB”) acted as the coordinating bank, Maybank Investment Bank Berhad (“Maybank IB”) as the agent and security agent and the lenders included ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Singapore Branch, AmInvestment Bank Berhad, BNP Paribas, CIMB Bank Berhad, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Maybank IB and Malayan Banking Berhad, RHB Bank Berhad, SCB and United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad.
In the equity placement SapuraKencana successfully placed 587 million new ordinary shares. CIMB Investment Bank Berhad, Maybank IB and CIMB (Securities) Pte Ltd acted as placement agents.
WFW Finance partner Andrew Nimmo led the debt financing team and he was assisted by associates Lizzie Roe and Catherine Allcock. Corporate partner, Nicholas Hanna, led the advice on the private placement with associate Neil Calder.
WFW partner Andrew Nimmo commented: “The successful completion of this transaction transforms SapuraKencana into being the world’s largest operator of tender rigs. The transaction was executed quickly and efficiently by the strong raft of professional advisors representing the various parties as well as the client’s dedicated in-house legal team.”
