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Business
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018
Business  
Business

Note 1—Business

Overview—Transocean Ltd. (together with its subsidiaries and predecessors, unless the context requires otherwise, “Transocean,” “we,” “us” or “our”) is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells.  We specialize in technically demanding sectors of the offshore drilling business with a particular focus on ultra‑deepwater and harsh environment drilling services.  Our mobile offshore drilling fleet is considered one of the most versatile fleets in the world.  We contract our drilling rigs, related equipment and work crews predominantly on a dayrate basis to drill oil and gas wells.  As of September 30, 2018, we owned or had partial ownership interests in and operated 41 mobile offshore drilling units, including 23 ultra‑deepwater floaters, 12 harsh environment floaters, two deepwater floaters and four midwater floaters.  As of September 30, 2018, we were constructing (i) two additional ultra‑deepwater drillships and (ii) one harsh environment semisubmersible, in which we hold a partial ownership interest.  We also operated one high‑specification jackup that was under a drilling contract when the rig was sold, and we continue to operate the rig until completion or novation of the drilling contract.  See Note 6—Drilling Fleet.

Merger agreement—On September 4, 2018, we announced that we entered into a definitive merger agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) with Ocean Rig UDW Inc., a Cayman Islands exempted company with limited liability (“Ocean Rig”), under which we agreed to acquire Ocean Rig in a cash and stock transaction.  The transaction consideration is comprised of 1.6128 newly issued shares of Transocean Ltd. plus $12.75 in cash for each common share of Ocean Rig.  As of September 30, 2018, Ocean Rig owned and operated 11 mobile offshore drilling units, including nine ultra‑deepwater floaters and two harsh environment floaters.  As of September 30, 2018, Ocean Rig was also constructing two ultra‑deepwater drillships.  See Note 4—Business Combinations, Note 13—Equity and Note 15—Subsequent Event.

Business combination—On January 30, 2018, we acquired an approximate 97.7 percent ownership interest in Songa Offshore SE, a European public company limited by shares, or societas Europaea, existing under the laws of Cyprus (“Songa”).  On March 28, 2018, we acquired the remaining shares not owned by us through a compulsory acquisition under Cyprus law, and as a result, Songa became our wholly owned subsidiary.  In connection with these transactions, we issued an aggregate of 68.0 million shares and $863 million aggregate principal amount of 0.50% exchangeable senior bonds due January 30, 2023 (the “Exchangeable Bonds”).  As a result of the acquisition, we acquired seven mobile offshore drilling units, including five harsh environment floaters and two midwater floaters.  See Note 4—Business Combinations.

Investment in unconsolidated affiliates—In the nine months ended September 30, 2018, we made an aggregate cash investment of $107 million in unconsolidated affiliates, including an initial investment of $91 million, representing a 33.0 percent interest, in Orion Holdings (Cayman) Limited, a Cayman Islands company formed to construct and own the newbuild harsh environment semisubmersible Transocean Norge.  We account for this investment, recorded in other assets, using the equity method of accounting.  The total purchase price for the rig, under construction at the Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. in Singapore, is $500 million.  We expect to make additional investments of $50 million and $33 million in January 2019 and January 2020, respectively.  We expect to operate the rig, through one of our wholly owned subsidiaries, under a drilling contract that is expected to commence in July 2019.  Additionally, we invested $16 million in other companies, recorded in other assets using the cost method of accounting, that are involved in researching and developing technology to improve automation in drilling and other activities.