SeaDrill's (SDRL) chairman and top shareholder appears to be putting his money where his mouth is by offering to lend the Bermuda-based deepwater driller as much as $1.2 billion. The company's shares were soaring Tuesday after SeaDrill's chairman, John Fredriksen, seems to be ready to provide the company the major loan to help it restructure its more than $9 billion debt stack, sources told Bloomberg.
Citing two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the offer was made via a group of fewer than 10 banks, and that SeaDrill shares have recently been pressured by a wave of new rigs throughout the industry. The stock had fallen sharply before news of Fredriksen's offer.
Meanwhile, shares of Pandora Media (P) were also climbing in midday trading after analysts with Goldman Sachs raised their rating on the streaming-music company's stock to "Conviction Buy" from "Buy." Goldman's confidence helped buoy the shares by about 4% as the analysts also hiked their price target to $19 from $17. Goldman noted the company is facing "meaningful execution and competitive risks" in its new subscription models but there is "significant potential upside" in Pandora's premium and on-demand subscriptions," Heath Terry wrote in a note to clients Tuesday.
Summit Therapetics' (SMMT) market cap nearly doubled Tuesday on news the drugmaker and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) had entered into an exclusive licensing agreement that will the enable the two companies to work together in developing drugs to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Summit is set to rake in $40 million upfront and may bring in up to $522 million as part of the milestone-payments plan with Sarepta. Shares of Sarepta were unresponsive to Tuesday's news.
Overall, markets were down slightly despite another climb in crude oil prices, which picked up mildly adding to steep gains since last Tuesday.
