HALLIBURTON has snapped up well intervention, workover and firefighting legend Boots & Coots in a stock and cash transaction worth about $240million.
The news comes hot on the heels of the death in March of Edward “Coots” Matthews, one of the founders of Boots & Coots.
He started the Houston company with fellow fireman Asger “Boots” Hansen in 1978, having splintered away from Red Adair, the famous oil-well fireman who helped extinguish massive oilfield fires in Kuwait after the 1991 Gulf War.
Marc Edwards, Halliburton senior vice-president for completion and production, said of the deal: “Optimising economic production levels in both mature assets and unconventional gas resources requires increasing levels of pressure control and well intervention.
“The combination of Halliburton’s global hydraulic workover and coiled-tubing deployed technologies, together with Boots & Coots’ well intervention and pressure control services, will help us improve full lifecycle returns for our customers.”
Once the deal is completed, Halliburton says a new product service line will be created to include the group’s existing coiled-tubing and hydraulic workover operations and Boots & Coots’ intervention services and pressure control business.
Under the merger agreement, Boots & Coots stockholders will receive $3 per common share, comprised of $1.73 in cash and $1.27 in Halliburton common stock.