Clearwater sells jack-up rig to Middle East buyer
Asia special situations investor Clearwater Capital Partners has sold a jack-up rig built in a Singapore shipyard to a drilling services partnership between the Saudi Arabian government and Schlumberger.
Financial details were not disclosed.
The Keppel FELS B Class jack-up rig is the first of two Clearwater placed in late 2013. Keppel FELS is a network of offshore yards owned by Singapore-headquartered Keppel Offshore & Marine. It claims to have delivered almost half of the world's new-build jack-up rigs and semisubmersibles in the past decade.
Yao Chye Chiang, COO at Clearwater, said the sale had generated a substantial return on the initial investment.
The buyer, Arabian Drilling Company (ADC), was established in 1964 by Saudi-controlled Industrialization & Energy Services and Schlumberger, a global oilfield services provider. The Saudi entity holds 51% with Schlumberger owning the rest. It operates 25 drilling rigs and counts Saudi Aramco among its clients.
Clearwater has approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. It raised $575 million for its fourth fund in 2012. Capital is usually recycled at least twice during the investment period as proceeds - interest and principal repayments on credit instruments - are re-invested.
The firm typically targets financial restructurings, operational turnarounds and non-performing loans, as well as operationally sound companies that are unable to source capital through traditional channels.
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