DryShips Inc. announced that the Mandatory Offer period for the acquisition of all the outstanding shares of Ocean Rig ASA began today and the appropriate Offer Document has been filed with the Oslo Stock Exchange. The mandatory offer period will end on 11th June, 2008. As of 14 May 2008, Primelead Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of DryShips, Inc., owns 128,035,373 shares in Ocean Rig or 75.1% of the shares and votes in Ocean Rig ASA.