National Oilwell Paid $800 Million For Schlumberger Unit - Filing
05/08/2012| 05:36pm US/Eastern
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By Ryan Dezember
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National Oilwell Varco Inc. (>> National-Oilwell Varco, Inc.) agreed to pay Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) $800 million for its Wilson oilfield-equipment distribution business, according to a quarterly securities filing.
Though the deal for Wilson International Inc. was announced last month, financial terms were not disclosed until Tuesday when National Oilwell filed its quarterly financial report with securities regulators.
The price is in line with analyst estimates.
Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield-services company, acquired Wilson in 2010 as part of its merger with Smith International.
Houston-based National Oilwell has grown, largely through acquisitions, to become the world's largest manufacturer of oilfield equipment. Wilson was the National Oilwell's second significant acquisition so far this year. Last month it closed a $670-million purchase of Norwegian subsea-pipe maker NKT Flexibles.
In Wilson, National Oilwell will "effectively" double the footprint of its own distribution business, analysts with Simmons & Company International said in a research note when the deal was announced. Wilson distributes pipe, valves and other equipment to the oil patch and industrial operations.
It had 2011 revenues of $2.6 billion, compared to $1.9 billion at National Oilwell's comparable unit, the Simmons analysts said.
Combining the businesses should make National Oilwell "far more formidable" against competitors in that business, including MRC Global Inc. (MRC) and closely held Hagemeyer, said Tom Curran, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities.
"The capital deployed should create more shareholder value than if left to languish in cash on the balance sheet," Curran wrote in an April research note.
-By Ryan Dezember, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3057; ryan.dezember@dowjones.com
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