OSLO, Sept 11 (Askume) – Offshore drilling contractor Seadrill (SDRL.N) is looking to create a bigger company by buying more assets or merging with rivals, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen has handed over control of the world’s biggest driller by market value to creditors in two debt restructurings since 2014.
Now a leaner, smaller company, New York-listed Seadrill is itself looking to acquire companies with distressed assets or “companies with bad balance sheets”.
“We’re not going to do anything crazy, we’ve proven our discipline,” he said. But he added that the large amount of cash on the company’s balance sheet — which some consider inefficient — provides a defensive cushion and a basis for being aggressive.
“We haven’t seen the end of consolidation (in the offshore drilling market) yet,” Johnson said.
Debt restructurings following the oil market crashes in 2014 and 2020 triggered a wave of consolidation in the industry, reducing the number of less-manipulative players, while drilling rates have more than doubled since 2021.
Keelan Adamson, president and chief operating officer of Seadrill competitor Transocean, said on the conference: “We believe there is room for more consolidation, especially given that our customers are also consolidating.”
Johnson said at the meeting that Seadrill still doesn’t know if it will emerge from a potential merger or be acquired by someone else if the price is right.
“We are looking at adding some rigs to take our headcount to 20-25 rigs… but we are willing to be the junior partner in the consolidation as long as we can get the premium we want,” he said. . Our asset quality.
When asked by Askume, Johnson declined to say whether the company was involved in any talks about a possible merger.
LSEG data shows that its top three shareholders are investment funds Baybrook Capital LLP, Canyon Capital Advisors LLC and Elliott Management Corporation.
