A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S has decided to list its drilling unit separately, marking another step toward a complete exit from the energy industry.
Copenhagen-based Maersk, which is working on turning itself into a pure transport company, said in a statement yesterday that the decision would take effect next year.
Management had explored “all options” for the drilling unit before deciding to opt for a separate listing in the Danish capital, Maersk chief executive officer Soren Skou said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Matthew Miller.
“We believe this will create the best value for our shareholders,” he said.
The Maersk family’s holding company would initially own more than 40 percent of the new listed drilling entity, and has “made a commitment” to continue as a major shareholder, Skou said.
The unit is worth about US$4.4 billion, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Talon Custer said.
As part of the preparation, debt financing of US$1.5 billion from a group of international banks has been secured for Maersk Drilling “to ensure a strong capital structure after a listing,” the company said.
The deal was imminent, after Maersk decided that bids from potential buyers were too low, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
The company, which owns the world’s biggest shipping operations, has given itself until the end of this year to drastically change its former conglomerate structure.
Last year, it agreed to sell its oil and gas business, as well as its tanker operations, for nearly US$10 billion combined. Most of that money was in shares from a deal with Total SA.
The Danish company still has a supply-service unit that is marked for divestment.
Maersk Drilling, which employs about 4,000 people, specializes in large rigs that can work in harsh environments. Its fleet includes about 15 jack-up rigs, four semi-submersibles and four drillships. Maersk took a US$1.75 billion impairment on the unit in November last year and reclassified it as “discontinued operations,” signaling a sale had moved closer.
Maersk also said it sold a US$1.2 billion stake in Total last month, representing just more than 19 million shares of the roughly 98 million that the Danish company received as part of the transaction.
Once Maersk Drilling becomes a separate company on the Nasdaq Copenhagen exchange, “a material part of the remaining Total SA shares” would be distributed to Maersk shareholders in the form of cash dividends, share buybacks or as a distribution of the Total shares directly, the company said.
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