Shearwater snaps up Polarcus assets

Offshore seismic firm Shearwater GeoServices has struck a deal with Tiger Moth, a company affiliated with Woodstreet, to buy marine seismic acquisition assets previously owned by Polarcus, who was taken over by its lenders following a loan default in January this year.

Shearwater has acquired six seismic acquisition vessels for a total consideration of $127.5m.

The company further purchased streamers and related seismic equipment for a total cash consideration of $50m.

The transactions are financed through a new vessel loan facility provided by DNB and GIEK of $107.5m and a convertible loan from Rasmussengruppen in the amount of $85m.

In February this year, banks forced the sale of Polarcus assets after which the Oslo-listed firm issued a notice of termination of employment to all Group employees.

Peter Zickerman’s recently established seismic player PXGEO also took over the remaining Polarcus’ 2011-built vessel Vyacheslav Tikhonov, chartered to Sovcomflot.