Slaughter and May is advising Ensco PLC (“Ensco”) on a private placement of exchangeable senior notes and concurrent exchange offers

Slaughter and May is advising Ensco on a private placement of $750 million aggregate principal amount of 3.00% exchangeable senior notes due 2024 (the “Notes”) to be issued by Ensco Jersey Finance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ensco (the “Offering”) and the concurrent private offers to exchange outstanding senior notes issued by Ensco and Pride International, Inc. (“Pride”), another wholly owned subsidiary of Ensco (the “Exchange Offers”). The commencement of the Offering and the Exchange Offers was announced on 06 December 2016.

The Notes will be exchangeable into cash, Ensco’s class A ordinary shares or a combination of cash and class A ordinary shares, at Ensco’s election. The initial purchasers of the Notes, Citigroup Global Markets Inc and HSBC Securities (USA) Inc (the “Initial Purchasers”) have a 30-day option to purchase an additional $112.5 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes.  

Ensco expects to use the net proceeds from the Offering to fund the cash portion of Ensco’s concurrent Exchange Offers for outstanding 4.70% senior notes due 2021 issued by Ensco, 8.50% senior notes due 2019 issued by Pride, and 6.875% senior notes due 2020 issued by Pride.

Ensco is a global provider of offshore drilling services to the petroleum industry. It is incorporated in the UK and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Slaughter and May and Baker Botts are assisting the Ensco legal team led by Michael McGuinty and Davor Vukadin. Davis Polk are advising the Initial Purchasers.