Borr CEO to leave after Paragon transaction

Borr Drilling and the company’s CEO Simon Johnson have agreed on a contract termination following the completion of the acquisition of Paragon Offshore.

Borr made a binding tender agreement to offer to purchase all outstanding shares in Paragon Offshore back in February. The total acquisition price for all outstanding shares of Paragon is estimated at $232.5 million.

The drilling company said on Thursday that its CEO Simon Johnson, who has been in the company since August 2017, would assist in the integration of Paragon and would subsequently leave the company.

Previously, Johnson worked as a senior vice president of marketing and contracts for Noble Corporation. Before this, he held operational and commercial roles for drilling contractors in locations around the globe. Johnson holds a Commerce degree from Curtin University and has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

The company added it decided to promote Svend Anton Maier as an interim CEO with immediate effect. Maier has been the chief operating officer in Borr since its inception in December 2016 and has successfully been responsible for building the asset base in the company and beginning operations for several of the rigs.

Maier worked for Seadrill between 2007 and 2016. He has more than three decades of experience in the oil and gas industry. Maier also worked for other drilling companies such as Transocean and Ross Offshore.

World’s largest premium jack-up player

Paragon is an international driller with a fleet of 32 drilling units as per January 2018. This fleet includes two modern units of the JU-2000E design, the Prospector 1 and Prospector 5 built in 2013 and 2014 currently located in the North Sea.

Paragon’s portfolio also includes a semi-submersible MSS1 scheduled to go on a long-term contract for TAQA in the North Sea starting in March. The Prospector 1 and five of Paragon’s older jack-ups are currently working in the North Sea, India and Middle-East, with four additional jack-ups under contract or committed, including Prospector 5.

In addition, there are 21 older uncontracted jack-ups stacked in different locations, which Borr plans to scrap due to high reactivation cost, safety standards and drilling efficiency.

Borr’s fleet comprises 15 jack-up drilling rigs and 11 units under construction with deliveries scheduled from 2018 to 2020.

According to Borr, following completion of the transaction, Borr will own 24 premium jack-ups built after 2000, and become the world’s largest premium jack-up rig operator.

Pick-up in tender activity

In a statement on Thursday, Borr Drilling Chairman Tor Olav Troim said: “The Board is excited about the significant improvement in tender activity in the jack-up drilling market over the recent months. The Paragon transaction gives us an operational platform to continue to develop Borr as the leading jack-up drilling operator. Borr has since its inception grown the owned fleet of high spec. jack-ups from 2 to 24. The Board is proud of the efforts and professionalism the organization has shown in order to accommodate such growth.

“We have used the last 18 months of weakness in the drilling market to build a unique fleet of new assets acquired at the right price. These efforts will give Borr the position as the leading jack-up operator into the next cycle. We have explored a lot of different opportunities, but see today few additional assets to be acquired. Borr is now close to the finish line building the leading jack-up drilling company both in terms of operations and assets. We are encouraged that this coincides with a large pick-up in tendering activity” says chairman Tor Olav Troim.