Cal Dive International, Inc. closed an asset purchase agreement
with Torch Offshore, Inc. following early termination
of the second review of the transaction by the Department of Justice. Under
the terms of the purchase agreement Cal Dive paid a consideration of
$85 million for two shelf pipelay barges; four shelf diving vessels; the
deepwater pipelay vessel Midnight Express; and a portable saturation diving
system, together with all equipment, inventory, intellectual property and
other assets related to the operations of the vessels.
Martin Ferron, President, stated, "We are very pleased to have concluded
this complicated transaction and are now focused on getting the acquired
assets back to work, especially given the extra demand generated by Hurricane
Katrina. We expect this to happen on a phased basis before the end of the
year due to the need to drydock several of the vessels. The Midnight Express
will be placed in service this year in its present condition, but will require
significant upgrade work next year to reach its optimum pipelay capability.
We expect the overall drydocking and upgrade budget to be around $30 million
for all of the assets.
"The deal should be accretive to fourth quarter earnings this year and we
expect the acquired assets to generate between $25 million - $30 million of
operating cash flow on a full year basis."
Cal Dive International, Inc., headquartered in Houston, Texas, is an
energy service company which provides alternate solutions to the oil and gas
industry worldwide for marginal field development, alternative development
plans, field life extension and abandonment, with service lines including
marine diving services, robotics, well operations, facilities ownership and
oil and gas production.