ESV - Rowan And Ensco: A Fair Merger Of Uneven Peers
In an effort to cope in the highly-competitive and financially-struggling offshore drilling industry, some players in this space have resorted to varying strategies. One approach, adopted a couple of times recently by Transocean (RIG), is to absorb other competitors in order to boost cash, increase backlog, and help to focus on reducing global rig counts by scrapping old units.
This same kind of mindset appears, now, to have influenced two smaller (but still relatively large) firms, Ensco PLC (ESV) and Rowan Companies (RDC). Through this all-stock merger, both businesses