On Friday the US offshore contractortold investors that the companies have re-established an alliance that willlast two years.
While both sides have agreed on theterms of the joint venture Tidewater says the deal is subject to the incorporationof an Angolan entity that will serve as the cornerstone of the partnership.
“Theformation of that entity is expected to be complete by early 2014, and if thattiming is met, the term of the new joint venture agreement would expire, unlessextended, in early 2016,” it added in a disclosure filed with securitiesregulators.
In a clientbriefing that followed the filing an equity analyst with Cowen & Company saidthe execution of a new agreement is “positive” for Tidewater but acknowledgedthat the outcome of negotiations that went on for nearly three years was widelyexpected.
Sonatide,the name given to an alliance that has seen countless extensions since it firsthit the skids in 2011, employs nearly 100 of Tidewater’s offshore supportvessels and accounts for nearly a third of the New York-quoted company’sshipping revenue.
