Drilling giant Seadrill has stepped up its bid to buy the outstanding shares in rival Sevan Drilling.
The company, which bought a 50.1% stake in Sevan last month, said it was intending to launch a mandatory offer for all outstanding shares in the company.
The move comes just days after Sevan revealed it had agreed an amended five-year $1.7bn banking facility to refinance the company’s debt.
ING is managing the deal, which is being fully guaranteed by Seadrill, and will fund the refinancing of the Sevan Driller and Sevan Brasil bank facilities, along with funding delivery of the Sevan 4 drilling rig and the Sevan Louisiana vessel.
Seadrill said it would offer 3.95 Krone a share, with the offer closing on August 22.