April 10, 2008

Tidewater eyes Superior Offshore assets

A Reuters report says that Tidewater, Inc. is evaluating assets of Superior Offshore International, Inc.

"We've had some people bring Superior to our attention," Tidewater CEO Dean Taylor told Reuters. "It's something we are evaluating."

Houston-headquartered Superior Offshore describes itself as "a leading provider of subsea construction and commercial diving services to the offshore oil and gas industry, serving operators in the outer continental shelf and deep waters of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as well as offshore Mexico, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.".The company also operates a construction/fabrication division. Superior Offshore operates a fleet of 11 service vessels and provides remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and saturation diving systems for deep water and harsh environment operations.

On April 1, Superior notified the SEC that it was unable to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 within the prescribed time, said it "presently has extremely limited liquidity and requires substantial additional financing to fund its operations and pay its obligations," and revealed that it had retained Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities, Inc. as its financial advisor to assist it in exploring a range of financial and strategic alternatives including obtaining additional or alternate sources of debt or equity financing, a sale or merger of the company or other strategic transaction, a sale of certain company assets and execution of the company's business plan.