Hornbeck Offshore
Services, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a
definitive asset purchase agreement with certain affiliates of Nabors
Industries Ltd. to acquire 20 offshore supply
vessels and their related business for cash consideration of $186m, plus the cost of any fuel inventory on
such vessels. The Sea Mar Fleet is comprised of ten 200 class DP-1 new
generation OSVs and ten conventional OSVs.
The Company has also agreed to purchase one 285-foot DP-2 new
generation OSV currently under construction at a domestic shipyard with an anticipated fourth quarter 2008 delivery. The expected cost of this
newbuild vessel, prior to allocation of construction period interest, is
approximately $34.0 million, of which about $7.3 million will be paid to
Nabors at closing.
All of the vessels to be acquired by Hornbeck Offshore are U.S. flagged
and qualify for U.S. coastwise trade under the Jones Act except for one
of the conventional vessels, which is foreign-flagged. In addition, under a
separate agreement and effective upon closing, Hornbeck Offshore will
manage five Nabors-owned Mexican flagged vessels currently operating
offshore Mexico.
The Sea Mar acquisition will be funded with cash on-hand and is
expected to be immediately accretive to earnings. Cash utilized for this
transaction will not alter the Company's plans to fund its previously
announced newbuild and conversion programs from remaining cash on-hand and
projected cash flows from operations. Closing is subject to customary
conditions, including third party consents and regulatory approvals, and is expected to occur in early August 2007.