Merger has big advantages

Article Excerpt

PRECISION DRILLING CORP. $4.13 (Toronto symbol PD; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resource sector; Shares outstanding: 293.2 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend suspended in March 2016; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.precisiondrilling.com) provides contract drilling services to land-based oil and gas producers, mainly in North America. It operates 257 rigs in Canada, the U.S. and the Middle East. The company has now agreed to acquire rival firm Trinidad Drilling Inc. (Toronto symbol TDG). That driller has 141 rigs in the U.S., Canada, the Middle East and Mexico. Trinidad investors will receive 0.445 of a Precision share for each TDG share they hold. That will give them 29% of the combined company. If you include Trinidad’s debt, the deal is worth $1.03 billion. Precision expects to complete the purchase by the end of 2018. Precision’s offer (currently worth $1.84 per Trinidad share) beat out a hostile all-cash bid of $1.68 a share from Ensign Energy Services Inc. (Toronto symbol ESI). Trinidad is trading at $1.88,…