The Oslo-listed rig contractor has also formed a rig operating joint venture with Opus under the deal unveiled on Friday to sell semi-submersibles Songa Mercur and Songa Venus, with Songa set to reap proceeds from the sale of up to $168.4 million as it seeks to raise cash for pair of newbuilds.

“We are delighted to have finally sealed this transaction after long negotiations with the buyer. This represents the final element of our restructuring programme and fine tunes our strategy to be a North Atlantic-focused harsh-environment midwater rig player,” Songa chief executive Bjornar Iversen told Upstream.

He said the deal would yield further funding for the final two of four so-called Category D newbuild semisubs being built for Statoil at South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, for which Songa is also looking to line up bank financing.

“Financing of the last two rigs will be at a higher ratio and on better terms than the first pair,” Iversen added.

He said the deal would enable Songa to shed ownership risk for the rigs while also giving the contractor a new revenue stream from the newly minted Songa-Opus joint venture.

The 50:50 alliance will ultimately operate six units, including both the rig pair and four newbuild Tiger-series deep-water drillships being built by Opus for delivery in 2014 and 2017 that will operate in Asia.

The joint venture will incorporate Songa’s international operations - the rig pair having most recently worked in South-East Asia - and offer drilling services to clients worldwide.

Although the purchase price for the two rigs is given as $200 million, Songa said the final transaction value is expected to range between $180 million and $235 million.

This is because the deal carries a so-called earn out mechanism of up to $21.7 million payable to Songa based on a proportion of dayrate revenue from Songa Mercur from 1 January 2014 – the effective date of the transaction – to the rig’s special periodic survey next year.

In addition, the final deal value will depend on whether Opus exercises an option to buy out Songa’s 50% stake in the joint venture for $20 million.

Songa further stated that combined cash flow of $41.6 million from both rigs between 1 January and the expected closing date of 31 May would be reimbursed to Opus, which will pay a cash settlement of $102.5 million at closing.

Opus will also pay a $10 million consideration to cover Songa’s cash contribution to the joint venture’s operational resources, while the latter also has a deferred consideration of $34.2 million in the form of a seller’s credit that is payable by 31 December 2017.