Banking Recap

M&A Transaction Announced for $204.0M

Vantage Drilling International announced on May 31, 2022 that its subsidiary, Vantage Holdings International, had consummated the sale of Emerald Driller Company, which owns three jackup rigs operating in Qatar, to ADES Arabia Holding. The purchase price was US$170,000,000 in cash plus an additional $34 million in cash for contract preparation costs that would be largely reimbursable by the client to ADES after closing, for total proceeds of $204 million, of which $4 million was held in escrow against potential price adjustments.

May 31, 2022·SEC EDGAR (8-K)·pending regulatory·divestiture (closed sale of subsidiary)

Deal value

This record is sourced from an Exhibit 99.1 press release furnished with Vantage Drilling International's Form 8-K filed May 31, 2022, announcing that the transaction had already closed on May 27, 2022.

Perella Weinberg Partners, LLC served as sole financial advisor to Vantage on the sale, per the release's statement that "Perella Weinberg Partners, LLC acted as financial advisor to Vantage, and Wikborg Rein LLP acted as legal advisor to Vantage." No financial advisor to the buyer, ADES Arabia, is named in the fetched document, and no lead designation is given since Perella Weinberg was Vantage's only named advisor.

On the legal side, Wikborg Rein LLP represented Vantage; no legal advisor for ADES Arabia is disclosed in this release.

The transaction included the sale of all issued and outstanding equity of Emerald Driller Company (which owns the Emerald Driller, Sapphire Driller and Aquamarine Driller jackup rigs), along with support services agreements under which a Vantage subsidiary will provide services to the three rigs for three years in exchange for customary fees and reimbursements.

Not disclosed in the sourced document is any EBITDA or asset-value multiple implied by the purchase price, the counterparty's (ADES Arabia's) financial or legal advisors, or any ongoing earn-out or contingent consideration beyond the described reimbursable mobilization costs.