Nabors Forms Energy Transition Spac

Nabors Industries, one of the largest owners of drilling rigs globally, has formed a new special purpose acquisition company (Spac) focused on the energy transition. It marks Nabors’ first big move into the energy transition space and is the latest example of an oil-field services contractor looking for ways to adapt its skill set to the evolving energy landscape (EIF May26'21). The Spac, dubbed Nabors Energy Transition, intends to raise up to $287.5 million in a public offering underwritten by Citigroup and Wells Fargo, according to an S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It says it will leverage Nabors' expertise and global footprint to identify potential acquisition targets, with a specific focus on companies or technologies that “facilitate, improve or complement the ongoing global energy sector’s shift from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption … to renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy or hydrogen.” The Spac will be managed by a subset of Nabors’ current management team, including CEO Anthony Petrello and CFO William Restrepo. Nabors’ high leverage and tight cash position meant it needed to come up with a different financing approach to tap into the energy transition sector. “[Nabors] clearly wants a bit of that energy transition valuation love/multiple uplift (and growth potential), but given the current status of their balance sheet, they had to get a bit creative to try and do that,” investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt said in a note.