Ocyan performs separation and transfers its offshore drilling business to a new company, migrating its five rigs

Offshore services company's debt drops from $2,6 billion to $300 million as drilling business spins off

Ocyan, an offshore oil and gas equipment and services company, held last week, in Brazil, the transfer of the drilling business to a new company, still unnamed, which will receive its five probes. With this, the company hopes to reduce the financial debt of the drilling unit, which should drop more than 85%. However, the platform operation, subsea construction, maintenance and offshore services business will remain with Ocyan.

The reorganization of the offshore service company took place thanks to an extrajudicial recovery, in which the creditors propose or agree with the process from the beginning and can also make investments. The process was filed on December 12 at the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJ-RJ) and approved last week.

The operation will now be carried out in the American Court, with a completion period of 45 days. The plan will be filed in New York court complying with the “Chapter 15? of the US Bankruptcy Code, for the recognition of impacts in the United States. The new company has been called DrillCo and was created in Luxembourg.

Offshore service company financial debt and new investments

The reconfiguration of the offshore services giant will equate the financial debt of the drilling unit, which will decrease from US$ 2,6 billion to US$ 300 million. Ocyan also disclosed that creditors will turn debt into capital and use more 197 million U.S. $ for new investments in the operation. According to Microsoft Start, the company will contribute with part of the executive and technical staff.

“The debt holders are investment funds that bought the bonds in mid-2010 to finance the construction of the rigs. These securities will be transformed into capital and the new company will have a very low level of debt. We were paying a mountain of money with interest, which we can pay as dividends”, says the president of Ocyan, Roberto Prisco Paraíso Ramos.

The Brazilian offshore services company will hold less than 10% of the capital of the new business

The new company's shareholders will be made up of holders of debt securities backed by drilling assets, in addition to Ocyan, and the executive body of the new company. The partners are investment funds and investors from Luxembourg, who will contribute most of the capital needed to carry out the operation.

As Ramos announced, despite the large investments to be made, the Brazilian offshore services company will hold less than 10% of the capital of the new business, but will retain a seat on the Board of Directors. “That way we preserve our participation in the direction of the new company”, justifies Ramos.