DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) (the "Company"
or "DryShips"), a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes and offshore
contract drilling oil services, announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary Ocean Rig
UDW Inc. ("Ocean Rig"), has closed its offering by way of a private placement of shares of
Ocean Rig's common stock (the "Shares") with total gross proceeds of $500 million. The offering
was made to professional investors and eligible counterparties in Norway, to non-United States
persons in reliance on Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act") and in a concurrent private placement in the United States only to qualified institutional
buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act.
The net proceeds of the offering are expected to be used to finance the construction costs of the
ultra deepwater newbuilding drillships under construction at Samsung, exercise options to build
further ultra deepwater drillships and general corporate purposes. Following this transaction
DryShips Inc. owns approximately 78% of Ocean Rig UDW Inc.
The Shares have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other
jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to or for the benefit of U.S.
persons unless so registered except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject
to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable securities laws in other
jurisdictions.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the
Shares, nor shall there be any sale of the Shares in any jurisdiction in which such offer,
solicitation or sale is unlawful. Any offer of the Shares will be made only by means of a private
placement memorandum.
In the European Economic Area, with respect to any Member State that has implemented
Directive 2003/71/EC (together with any applicable implementing measures in any Member
State, the "Prospectus Directive") the information in respect of the Share offering is only
addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning
of the Prospectus Directive.
The joint lead managers for this transaction were DnB Nor Markets, Fearnley Fonds ASA and
Pareto Securities AS.