Reference is made to the press release dated April 28, 2008 in which Seadrill Limited announced an intention to purchase 15.8 million of the outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore Ltd. at a price of NOK80 per share. The Board of Seadrill has decided to limit the number of shares purchased to 8,100,000 shares. Following this transaction Seadrill owns 19,494,700, corresponding to 36.00 percent of the outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore.
As a consequence of the acquisition, Seadrill will put forward a mandatory tender offer for the remaining outstanding shares in Scorpion Offshore within four weeks. Accordingly, a draft offer document will be filed with the Oslo Stock Exchange for its review and approval.
The Board of Seadrill has in connection with the acquisition of the shares made a thorough evaluation of different ways to expand the company further. Lead-time for new building of floater assets are currently more than three years. The Board has concluded that investment in a fleet of seven modern high spec jack-ups which all will be delivered within the end of 2009 will boost the company's cash generation and add value and dividend potential going forward. The shareholders should be assured that Seadrill's focus will continue to be to develop the world's leading fleet of modern deepwater floater assets, however opportunistic investment approaches will be used to optimize the equity return to the shareholders until further growth can be secured in the deepwater market.
Carnegie ASA and Pareto Securities AS acted as Seadrill's advisors in connection with the share purchase.
Seadrill Limited
Hamilton, Bermuda
April 29, 2008