Shareholders of a subsidiary of Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL), a $3.51 billion offshore drilling contractor, have sued the company in light of a deal signed with the Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft back in June 2014, which has been put on hold since the sanctions in August last year. The shareholders of the subsidiary North Atlantic Drilling contend that both the parent company and the subsidiary made false and misleading statements, downplaying the risks of the deal with Rosneft. The deal involved Rosneft gaining a 30% stake in NADL in exchange for cash and a total of 150 onshore rigs. In early trading hours Seadrill's stock was down by more than 4%. The news was first reported in the Russian business daily Kommersant on Friday.
Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL) has lately been in a tough shape with the stock dropping by more than 37% so far this year. The stock has received some uplift recently on the back of the second quarter results, which managed to beat the earnings estimates and revenues that were almost in line with the expectations. The company has embarked on a rigorous cost cutting program and cost savings for the current year are expected to be double compared to the last year. Seadrill Ltd (NYSE:SDRL)'s management expects the low oil price environment to persist throughout 2016 with a real possibility of continuation in 2017 as well.
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