Seadrill revealed Tuesday that it has entered into an agreement with Seadrill Partners pursuant to which the Company will sell to Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC, Seadrill Partners' 51 percent owned subsidiary (Capricorn Holdings), all of the ownership interests in the entities that own and operate the drillship, the West Auriga (the "Auriga Acquisition"). The Company owns the remaining 49 percent interest in Capricorn Holdings. The Auriga Acquisition, which is expected to close within 30 days, will be accomplished through a series of purchases, contributions and assumptions of debt and is subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions.

The West Auriga (UDW drillship) is a 6th generation, dynamically positioned drillship delivered from the Samsung shipyard to its current customer, BP, in October 2013.  The West Auriga is expected to carry out operations in the US Gulf of Mexico until the end of its contract in October 2020 at a dayrate of $565,000 per day, excluding approximately $37,500 per day payable by the customer over the term of the contract relating to mobilization, variation orders and other special and standby rates.

The implied sale price of the Auriga Acquisition is $1.24 billion, less $443.1 million outstanding under the facility related to the West Auriga. In addition, Capricorn Holdings intends to issue a $100 million zero coupon limited recourse discount note to the Company that matures in September 2015. Upon maturity of such note, Seadrill Capricorn Holdings LLC will repay $103.7 million to the Company. Based on the Seadrill Partners' 51 percent ownership of Seadrill Capricorn Holdings, its portion of the net purchase price after debt will be $355.4 million.