Atwood up on Ensco takeover; GenOn, Bristow drops; Intelsat down ahead of exchange end

By Colin Hanner

Chicago, May 30 – Mergers and acquisitions typically reserved for Monday’s session were pushed to Tuesday following the extended Memorial Day holiday weekend.

The distressed debt arena saw London-based offshore drilling contractor Ensco plc acquire Houston-based Atwood Oceanics, Inc. for $839 million in an all-stock transaction, the companies said in a news release.

The sphere was dominated by Atwood bonds trading up, a market source said, adding the bonds traded what seemed like a “bajillion times.”

Atwood Oceanics’ notes quickly surged into double-digit gains after the announcement was made.

Ensco notes, on the other hand, were virtually unchanged.

From there, activity dozed off into a post-holiday lull, a market source said, with activity revolving around previous activity from Friday’s session.

Princeton, N.J. power generator, GenOn Energy Inc., which was lower on Friday following a downgrade from S&P Global Ratings, followed with a smaller loss on Tuesday.

Bristow Group Inc., which provides helicopter transport services mostly to the offshore energy drilling industry, was lower following a downgrade on Friday that stemmed from quarterly results.

Satellite telecommunications company Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA was lower by several points on Tuesday, a day prior to the end of its exchange offer for several notes.

And, in energy, oil futures fell modestly, as did Los Angeles-based California Resources Corp. In coal, Murray Energy Corp. nearly mirrored the same losses.

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