Clearwater Capital Partners is set to become the largESt shareholder of S.D. Standard Drilling Plc£¬ which is raising USD 330million by issuing 220 million new shares. Following the capital raising Standard Drilling will become a leading pure play premium jack-up company£¬ with seven jack-up riGS all under construction at Keppel FELS and early deliverydates between July 2012 and May 2014.
Robert Petty£¬ Managing Partner of Clearwater£¬ said£¬ "This transaction successfully combines many key elements that we view as essential to building great companies: Partners£¬ SCale£¬ Valuation and Sector. We are pleased to partner with Standard Drilling to create a new benchmark in the premium jack-up sector. The combined entity will have a fleet of seven similar£¬ high specification jack-up rigs being built by one of£¬ if not£¬ the world's leading yards£¬ Keppel FELS. The continued need for rig fleet renewal£¬ strong oil markets and renewed activity in the EXploration and production sector are creating long term demand for premium jack-up rigs particularly in Asia. We see Standard Drilling well positioned to capture significant growth opportunities in this region as well as globally."
With scale and public market access£¬ Standard Drilling will be able to attract the top talent in the industry as the company looks to build an in-house operations team. In keeping with good corporate governance practices£¬ post closing of this transaction£¬ there will be complete alignment of interest amongst all shareholders with no cash leakage£¬ high management fees or ongoing success fees paid to related parties. Clearwater will be the largest shareholder with 29.9% ownership and is excited about the long term prospeCTS of building a leading company within an important industry by hiring great people£¬ having best ofclass management systems£¬ using synergies of scale and pursuing opportunities in the future to further expand the fleet. Clearwater believes that building world class execution capabilities without institutional inhibitions will give the company a leadership position right from the start.
