Slaughter and May is advising North Atlantic Drilling Ltd. (NADL) and Seadrill Limited (Seadrill) on arrangements under which NADL will acquire a fleet of approximately 150 land drilling rigs from Rosneft in return for an issue of NADL shares and Rosneft will subscribe for additional NADL shares. As a result, Rosneft will acquire a 30% interest in NADL, worth approximately $1.25 billion. Under the arrangements, which were announced on 22 August 2014, Rosneft will also award new 5 year drilling contracts for the land rigs being acquired.

The transaction follows on from an Investment and Cooperation Agreement entered into by Seadrill, NADL and Rosneft in May 2014 and long term offshore drilling contracts worth approximately US$4.25 billion entered into by NADL and Rosneft in July 2014. Slaughter and May also advised Seadrill and NADL on those arrangements.

NADL is an offshore harsh environment drilling company with focus on the North Atlantic basin. It is listed on the NYSE and Norwegian OTC with a market capitalisation of approximately US$2.6 billion. Seadrill currently owns 70% of the outstanding shares in NADL and will remain NADL's largest shareholder after the transaction.

CONTACTS

Corporate: Hywel Davies (partner), Tim Boxell (partner), Victoria MacDuff (associate), Matthew Hamilton (associate), Liam Townson (associate); Competition: Anna Lyle-Smythe (partner), Natalie Cookseye (associate); Tax: Ed Milliner (associate).