Between 2002 and mid-2005, the market window for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the oil-service sector remained largely closed, after stock values in that sector slid from their lofty peaks in 2000 and 2001. But this summer, that window was again thrown wide open. At the end of July, Superior Well Services Inc., an Indiana, Pennsylvania-based supplier of pressure-pumping services, thundered to market in an oversubscribed $84-million IPO led by Key Banc Capital Markets. Weeks later, in mid-August, Bronco Drilling Co., an Oklahoma City contract land driller tested the Wall Street waters in an oversubscribed $94-million IPO co-led by Johnson Rice & Co. and Jefferies & Co. That's just for openers. By early fall, Union Drilling Inc., a Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, contract land-driller, had filed an S-1 for a proposed $150-million IPO to be underwritten by JP Morgan Securities, Jefferies & Co., Bear Sterns & Co. and RBC Capital Markets. Similarly, Hercules Offshore LLC, a Houston-based jackup rig and liftboat operator, filed a proposed $172.5-million IPO to be underwritten by Credit Suisse First Boston, Citigroup, Howard Weil, Deutsche Bank Securities and Simmons & Co. International. In addition, Basic Energy Services, a Midland-based well-service rig provider, has proposed an upwardly revised $287.5-million IPO to be underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers, UBS Securities, Deutsche Bank Securities, Raymond James & Associates and RBC Capital Markets. And, Dresser Inc., an Addison, Texas-based manufacturer of flow-control products and measurement and power systems, has proposed a $575-million IPO to be underwritten by Morgan Stanley & Co., Credit Suisse First Boston, Banc of America Securities, UBS Securities, Lehman Brothers, Raymond James & Associates and Simmons & Co. International. The parade doesn't stop there, however. Fred Charlton, managing director, corporate finance, for Simmons & Co. International in Houston, says, "While we'll co-manage the Hercules Offshore and Dresser offerings, there are several other service IPOs with which we'll also likely be involved once they're filed." What's prompting this tide of oil-service IPOs? Charlton, whose firm also co-managed the Superior Well Services deal along with A.G. Edwards and RBC Capital Markets, offers one explanation. "There are a variety of sponsors that invested private equity in oil-service companies during the 2002-04 downturn, patiently building up those companies for the time when the IPO window would again open. Now that this has occurred, those financial sponsors are harvesting their investments." For more on this, see the November issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-993-9320, ext. 126.
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