HAMILTON, Norway, April 3, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Reference is made to the press release dated 31 March 2006 regarding the closing of the Mandatory Offer. After the expiry of the Offer period, SeaDrill Limited ("SeaDrill") has received acceptances for a total of 25,261,260 class A-shares and 10,024,309 class B-shares, equaling 47.0% of the Smedvig ASA ("Smedvig") votes and 35.8% of the Smedvig capital.
As previously announced, settlement for these shares is expected to take place on 7 April 2006 at the latest. Reference is made to the Offer Document, dated 2 March 2006, for further description of the terms of the Offer.
Including both the accepted shares and the already owned shares, SeaDrill controls 53,160,869 class A-shares and 25,532,391 class B-shares, constituting approximately 98.9% of the Smedvig votes and 96.3% of the Smedvig capital.
The Mandatory Offer was not open to residents of the United States. A separate offer ("the U.S. Offer"), dated 6 March 2006, is open only to residents of the United States. The U.S. Offer will expire today, 3 April 2006, at 22.00 CET.