© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(May 30) – A group of Houston lawyers from Latham & Watkins and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s brand new Bayou City outpost led Tuesday’s $839 million merger between two offshore drilling competitors: London-based Ensco plc and Houston-based Atwood Oceanics.
Atwood General Counsel Drew Baker turned to Gibson Dunn partner Tull Florey to lead Atwood’s end of the deal. Other Texas-based lawyers on the Gibson Dunn deal team included corporate associate Needhi Vasavada, tax partner David Sinak and tax associate Michael Cannon from Dallas, as well as finance partner Shalla Prichard from Houston.
Attorneys from the firm’s New York, London and Washington, D.C. also worked on the deal.
Peggy Fitzgerald, who serves as Atwood’s associate general counsel, also worked on the transaction.
Florey has previously handled various capital markets deals for Atwood, including offerings of senior notes and common stock, as well as a tender offer for senior notes. One of those offerings occurred last July and raised $150 million for the company.
Tuesday’s transaction is one of the first few deals to come out of Gibson Dunn’s fledgling Houston office since a group of lawyers departed Latham and Baker Botts earlier this year to start Gibson Dunn’s newest Texas outpost.
Ensco turned to Latham corporate partners Sean Wheeler and Debbie Yee to spearhead its end of the deal. The corporate team also included Houston associates Nick Dhesi, Sean Ehni, Seth Rasmussen, Hye Lee and Taylor Anthony. Houston partner Tim Fenn and associate Jared Grimley advised on tax matters. Latham’s Washington, D.C. and Chicago offices were also involved.
The all-stock transaction is expected to close as soon as the third quarter of this year.
Both firms declined to comment on the deal. In a joint statement, Ensco and Atwood said the merger will create annual expense savings of $65 million, while will be realized beginning in 2019. The companies also expect cost synergies in 2018 to exceed $45 million.
“While current market conditions are challenging, Ensco will be ideally positioned to meet increasing levels of customer demand as the market recovers,” the company statement says.
For financial advice, Ensco turned to Morgan Stanley, DNB Markets and HSBC Securities. Atwood hired Goldman Sachs.
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