Schlumberger Ltd., reportedly the world’s largest oilfield services company, is exploring the sale of its oilfield tools rental unit Thomas Tools, Reuters reports. According to the report, the unit could be valued at more than $600 million. Sources said an auction is already underway for Thomas Tools, which has EBITDA of around $80 million.
The sources, who could not be identified because of the confidential nature of the process, told Reuters that private equity firms that are interested in acquiring unwanted divisions of big conglomerates have shown interest in acquiring the company.
New Iberia, La.-based Thomas Tools is a provider of oilfield rental tools such as drill pipes, drill bits, tubulars, tubular services and more. Thomas was founded in 1961 as a downhole tool specialty company and was taken over by Houston-based Schlumberger in 2010 as part of its $11 billion acquisition of Smith International Inc.
