Noble Corporation plc has successfully completed the acquisition of Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc, creating the largest fleet of 7th generation dual-BOP drillships in the industry and adding approximately $2 billion of backlog. Following the acquisition, the Company's board of directors has appointed Patrice Douglas from the Diamond board of directors to serve as a new director of Noble.
Noble's current backlog has increased to $6.7 billion, reflecting the addition of the Diamond rigs and other updates, including the addition of 4.8 rig years of backlog recently awarded under the Commercial Enabling Agreement (CEA) with ExxonMobil for the Company’s four drillships operating in Guyana.
In connection with the closing of the Diamond acquisition, Noble issued 24,239,941 class A ordinary shares of Noble to former shareholders of Diamond, bringing the total issued and outstanding shares of Noble to 167,279,702.
Key employees holding performance-vesting and time vesting restricted stock units (RSUs) in Diamond will have these RSUs assumed by Noble on substantially the same terms and conditions, with any vested awards settled in cash or shares of Diamond prior to the acquisition.
Noble advises that following the acquisition of Diamond, investors should not rely on previously issued financial guidance for 2024, as it is no longer applicable on a combined company basis.
Following these announcements, the company's shares moved -2.1%, and are now trading at a price of $35.31. For the full picture, make sure to review Noble's 8-K report.
