Is someone circling Pacific Drilling?

Does US-listed Pacific Drilling look like a credible takeover target? We think it probably does, 0n balance, and we’d very much like to find out more.

So here’s what we know:

Idan Ofer, Israel’s richest man, floated Pacific Drilling on the NYSE last November at $8.25 per share. That valued the ultra-deepwater drilling specialist at $1.7bn.

The shares hit $11 within a couple of months of listing but have been rangebound ever since, standing at $9.88 at pixel time. Mr Ofer’s Quantum Pacific Gibraltar investment vehicle retains a 71.4 per cent stake.

Next, here’s what we think:

Before moving Pacific Drilling’s main listing from the Norwegian OTC market to New York last year, it seems probable Mr Ofer sounded out potential interested parties. Those parties were likely to have included Seadrill, the drilling group controlled by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen. UK-headquartered Ensco would be another obvious company to call.

But as the NYSE listing still happened, we can assume those soundings came to nothing.

Now, this is where it gets a bit RAW. Here’s what we’ve heard:

According to usually reliable sources, Pacific Drilling attracted fresh interest after its US float. Seadrill and Ensco were said to have been sniffing around, among others.

One story was that Pacific Drilling received an informal approach at around $13.80 a share, which would value it at $2.9bn. But Mr Ofer was said to have indicated he was looking for an offer of $15.50, or around $3.2bn, to give up control.

Discussions with the bidder have now ended but Pacific Drilling has been considering its options in light of the interest, according to the type of people usually quoted in these stories.

So is any of this true? We don’t know. We wouldn’t be writing this if we didn’t think there was some credibility to the talk. But, with nearly all lines of RAW inquiry met with the rote response of “no comment” these days, it’s becoming difficult for us to judge. Instead, dear reader, you judge.

The habitually acquisitive Seadrill posts Q3 results on Monday and has raised more than $2bn in the past three months via asset sales and a bond issue. If nothing else, the above story will provide analysts something new to ask about during the conference call.