MHWirth, a subsidiary of the publicly listed Akastor ASA, has reached an agreement with AFGlobal Corporation to divest its Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) business through the sale of its subsidiary, Managed Pressure Operations (MPO). The transaction will be settled through a cash consideration of USD 10 million on closing, combined with an earn-out element, which could potentially reach USD 65 million over the next 6 years. The agreement ensures the ability for MHWirth to provide Integrated MPD drilling packages to the market in the future.

Finn Amund Norbye, CEO of MHWirth comments, “We are impressed with what the MPO organisation has accomplished over many years, building up market-leading technologies and commercial offerings to build safety and efficiency standards within drilling operations. The combination of MPO and AFGlobal’s MPD business creates a compelling combination and we are pleased to have reached an agreement that secures MHWirth with a portion of the future value creation.”

Curtis Samford, President and CEO of AFGlobal adds, “MPO is a valuable addition to our portfolio of technologies and solutions for the drilling industry. We are pleased to add the engineering strength and depth of the MPO team to AFGlobal’s Advanced Drilling Systems group. Leveraging our combined expertise and unique strengths will enable meaningful improvements to the quality and modularity of the managed pressure drilling environment.”

The transaction is expected to be completed in Q3 2016.

Tags: AFGlobal Corporation, Akastor ASA, Managed Pressure Operations (MPO), MHWirth