25-year-old Brazilian offshore drilling player starts its new growth chapter

Brazil’s deepwater offshore drilling contractor Ventura Offshore Holding is celebrating its first day of trading on the Euronext Growth stock exchange market in Oslo, Norway.

Earlier this year, Ventura Offshore got its hands on the business of Petroserv Marine, which not only has a strong foothold in the Brazilian deepwater market – built up over 25 years – but has also operated in West Africa and Southeast Asia.

After entering into a share purchase agreement (SPA) with Petroserv Marine on March 8, 2024, regarding the acquisition of all outstanding shares in Universal Energy Resources, the acquisition closed on May 8, 2024.

The company completed a private placement of 85,000,000 new common shares at a fixed subscription price of $2 per new share, raising gross proceeds of $170 million to partly finance the acquisition and secure working capital and general purposes following the completion of the acquisition.

When April 19 rolled in, the Brazilian player’s wholly owned subsidiary, Ventura Offshore Midco, issued senior secured $130 million bonds, expected to be listed within six months, to finance the remaining part of the acquisition.

Therefore, a directed share issue of $170 million and a bond issue of $130 million were carried out to finance the transaction ahead of the listing on Euronext Growth in Oslo. The first day of trading on Euronext Growth Oslo for Ventura Offshore’s shares is June 5, 2024, under the ticker code: VTURA.

Gunnar Eliassen, Chairman of the Board of Ventura Offshore Holding, commented: “We are excited to bring this company to the public market. It is a well-managed company with a strong asset base and a solid position in the Brazilian deepwater market. We have an excellent operational platform, and the listing gives us further flexibility to pursue various growth opportunities, primarily in the ultra-deepwater space.”

Currently, the Brazilian firm owns and operates the DS Carolina drillship and the SSV Victoria semi-submersible drilling rig. The company also manages the Zonda drillship and the SSV Catarina semi-submersible rig.

Guilherme Coelho, Ventura Offshore’s Chief Executive, highlighted: “The public listing of Ventura Offshore is an important milestone in our 25-year history and will provide exciting opportunities for the company going forward. With the strong support of new shareholders, the existing Ventura Offshore management and I are excited to progress the Ventura Offshore organization into its next chapter.”

Ventura Offshore’s core market is Brazil, which is taking steps to bolster investments in oil and natural gas exploration to promote regional development and foster national production while turning the country into the fourth-largest oil producer in the world.

The reason behind Brazil’s high investment in fossil fuels is encapsulated in the country’s belief that new oil and gas reserves are strategic and essential for guaranteeing national energy security and sovereignty in the context of the just energy transition.

During the next five years, Brazil’s state-owned player Petrobras plans to allocate the biggest slice of its $102 billion investment pie to oil and natural gas while $11.5 billion is earmarked for projects designed to curb its carbon footprint.