Maersk to spin off offshore drilling

Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Friday it would spin off its offshore drilling operation and list it in Copenhagen next year as it focuses entirely on transport and logistics. The Danish company, which cut its full-year profit outlook this month, last year sold Maersk Oil to French oil major Total in a $7.5 billion deal as part of its restructuring.

Soren Skou, who became chief executive of Maersk in 2016, has embarked on a major restructuring to concentrate on its transport and logistics businesses and separate its energy operations.

The CEO used to head Maersk’s container business and is a long-time veteran of the Danish firm. As part of the sale of the oil unit, Maersk in March took a 3.7 per cent stake, or 97.5 million shares, in Total. It sold stock worth $1.2 billion in July, leaving it with 78.3 million Total shares, Maersk said. Total has a market capitalisation of ^137 billion ($156 billion), Thomson Reuters data shows. Following the demerger of Maersk Drilling, a “material part” of its remaining shares in Total will be distributed to shareholders, Maersk said. Maersk shares were up by three per cent at 12.57 PM IST after opening up more than 4.5 per cent, while Total was little changed. Maersk said that having evaluated different options for the drilling unit it had “concluded that Maersk Drilling as a standalone company presents the most optimal and long-term prospects for its shareholders”. The Danish firm also said it had secured debt financing of $1.5 billion from a consortium of international banks “to ensure a strong capital structure after a listing”.