Seadrill not planning Pride takeover, company says

Seadrill Ltd. is not intent on a hostile takeover of Pride International Inc., the company said Wednesday.

Houston-based Pride (NYSE: PDE) on April 22 lowered the threshold of ownership for Seadrill that would trigger its shareholder rights plan from 15 percent to 10 percent, after the Norwegian company revealed it had acquired 9.9 percent of Pride shares on the open market.

Seadrill -- which also has a Houston office -- notified the offshore oil drilling contractor of its actions and had requested that it not publicly disclose the move, which Pride then revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The shareholder rights plan is set up to ward off hostile takeovers.

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"Seadrill has written to Pride and asked for a meeting to discuss potential strategic benefits for both parties of a transaction between the two companies," Seadrill officials said on Wednesday in a posting on the company's Web site.

Seadrill, which is publicly traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange, owns 200,000 Pride International common shares and forward agreements to buy 16.3 million, which at Pride's April 23 closing price have a gross value of $708 million, including $140 million in unrealized gains.