Technip Proposes $1.83 Billion French Oil-Services Merger
Move Comes Amid Consolidation in Oil-Services Industry
CGG, a Paris-listed specialist in exploration equipment and services, said it has rejected the offer. “Conditions to pursue [the approach] weren't met,” the company said in a statement Thursday. “The company isn't for sale,” a spokesman added.
Technip said it would break up CGG, selling its seismic-studies unit which accounted for about 60% of the company’s $3.77 billion in revenue last year.
The announcement of Technip’s approach CGG comes just days after U.S. giant Halliburton Co. announced plans to buy smaller rival Baker Hughes Inc. in a deal valued at $34.6 billion, prompting speculation that more deals in the sector were in the offing.
The industry’s main players are rushing to buy smaller rivals to As AThe preoffset the effects of falling oil prices on their business. Oil-services companies typically provide equipment such as rigs, drill parts and tools but can also undertake the engineering for pipelines and projects.
As oil prices have fallen to below $80 a barrel from more than $100 a barrel earlier this year, major oil companies have shelved expansion plans for multibillion-dollar projects and shed operations with thin profit margins.
The combined group would employ around 50,000 people with revenue of around €13 billion.
Technip, which said it first approached CGG on Nov. 10, has offered €8.3 a share in cash, a premium of 27% over CGG’s closing share price Wednesday.
CGG shares shot up, but at €8.23, they were trading slightly below Technip’s offer price.
Shares in Technip fell sharply. The stock was down 7.3% in late trading.
Some analysts questioned the logic of the deal given CGG’s relatively weak financial position, declining operating profitability, and the absence of significant potential cost savings.
“I don’t think, at this point, Technip’s shareholders have anything to win,” said Jean-Pierre Dmirdjian, an analyst at London-based brokerage house Liberum.
Providers of seismic studies and other exploration services tend to be first to suffer when oil prices fall as exploration budgets are often the easiest ones for oil and gas producers to cut.
CGG has posted net losses in four over the past five years and analysts who follow it expect a current restructuring plan won’t restore it to profitability until 2016.
Mr. Dmirdjian said he suspects the French government, which has a 7.7% stake in Technip and 10.6% stake in CGG, would like to see the tie-up happen. “I feel the government is very involved in this operation.”
French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll declined to comment on Thursday on the merger.