Divestco, IDC moot merger

Divestco and International Datashare Corp. are proposing to merge into a new company. The merged company claims to offer the largest collection of North American well logs.

International Datashare Corporation (IDC) and Divestco are proposing to merge in what is described as “an arms-length share exchange transaction”. If approved, the deal will give IDC shareholders 1/3 of the new merged company and Divestco shareholders the remaining 2/3. Shareholder approvals will be sought at meetings of both companies next month.

Stein

IDC president Norm Stein said, “This is an excellent opportunity for IDC shareholders. Divestco has made an impressive number of strategic acquisitions to position itself as a premier software, data, and technical services company.”

Acquisitive

Both companies have a recent track record of aggressively pursuing growth by acquisition. Divestco was founded in 2000 when Petromap and CDPubCo were amalgamated. Last year Divestco acquired SeisView, Rocky Mountain Data, the brokerage division of Pulse Data, Kernel Technologies, Dynamic Solutions, and Digi-Rule. Earlier this year Divestco also acquired Excalibur-Gemini.

Riley’s

In 2001, IDC acquired MSI Capture, AnGIS and Nickle Map Service Ltd. Last year IDC acquired Riley Electric Log in a $4 million transaction (see Oil ITJ Vol. 7 N° 3). At the AAPG this month, Divestco COO Matthew Puzey told Oil IT Journal that the combined companies would have the largest collection of North American well logs—around 4½ million.

Popadynetz

Divestco CEO Steve Popadynetz added “The merger will improve data delivery from our software—adding industry leading libraries of raster and digital well logs, drill stem tests and land data. IDC’s software will complement Divestco’s oil and gas applications, and its storage and tape archival and copying facilities will complement our seismic services business.”

Conditional

The amalgamation is conditional on receiving a 2/3 majority vote from both IDC and Divestco shareholders. Alberta-based Divestco provides oil and gas software, data, seismic brokerage, and technical services. The working title for the newly merged company is ‘Amalco’ but this will likely change once the deal is done. More from www.divestco.com and www.datashare.net.

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