Eldorado Acquires Vantage Drilling for $19 a Share

Overview

• Vantage announced that all conditions for the merger were expected to be satisfied by 1:00 p.m. ET on Friday, June 26, allowing shareholders to receive $19.00 in cash per share.
• The transaction uses a merger structure in which an indirect Eldorado subsidiary merged into Vantage and Vantage now survives as an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Eldorado.
• Before closing, Vantage repurchased and cancelled 319,037 shares from insiders at $19 per share, reducing issued share capital to 13,240,034 shares.
• Reports place the total cash consideration at about $257.6 million and say Eldorado’s principal shareholder has committed roughly $125 million of equity to back the purchase.
• Trading suspension on Oslo Børs is planned to take effect from June 29 to allow orderly settlement, after which Vantage will seek prompt delisting and the combined company expects to expand fleet scale, customer reach and investment capacity.