Weatherford International Hires Morgan Stanley To Sell Units

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U.S. oil services firm Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE: WFT) said on Nov. 24 it has appointed advisors, including Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), to sell units starting in the first-quarter of 2018.

Alongside oil producers, companies that drill wells, haul water and provide other services to energy exploration firms have been hit by a slump in oil prices, with benchmark Brent tumbling to about $27 a barrel (bbl) in 2016 from more than $100/bbl in 2014. It is now trading at more than $60/bbl.

Weatherford, which carried out a three-month strategic review, said in a third-quarter analyst call it would restructure some parts of the business and identify units “which are not critical to our strategy going forward.”

It did not specify which businesses, but said it expected to raise about $500 million from these divestitures.

Three banking sources said the company was looking to offload the artificial lift business, the wellheads and the drilling tools units and the international pressure pumping assets.

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