Pride International (PDE) Gets Bought Out - I Missed it by *That* Much

I saw this morning driller Pride International (PDE) has a bid from Ensco (ESV). Very long time readers might remember Pride as I was touting it was a takeover play..... 2 years ago. [May 2, 2008: Restarting Pride International as Takeover Bait] As Maxwell Smart would say, I missed it by that much! I believe the way Wall Street works, I can still claim credit for "nailing it" even though I've been nowhere near the stock in ages. hah.

Via AP:

Oil rig company Ensco PLC said Monday it has agreed to buy U.S. rival Pride International Inc. in a $7.3 billion cash and stock deal that will create the world's second largest off-shore drilling company. The combined group will be valued at $16 billion and have a total of 74 rigs, including 21 ultra-deepwater and deepwater platforms, in key locations around the world.
The deal, valued at a total of $41.60 per share, is a 21 percent premium to the Houston-based Pride's closing price on Friday. In the shares and stock split offer, Pride stockholders will receive 0.4778 newly issued shares of London-based Ensco, plus $15.60 in cash for each share of Pride common stock. That will leave Ensco stockholders holding around 62 percent and Pride stockholders owning about 38 percent of the combined company when the deal closes, anticipated as early as the second quarter.
Ensco expects the combined company to realize pretax expense synergies of at least $50 million in 2012 and beyond. The total estimated revenue backlog for the combined company is around $10 billion, which Ensco plans to use to support further growth.
The deal is also expected to boost estimated earnings per share of $5.11 in 2012 by more than 10 percent.
Sterne Agee analyst David Havens said the combination of the two oil service firms will provide a “good strategic fit” by giving Ensco an “immediate high-spec drillship fleet with good cash flow generating semis.” The price paid by Ensco is, “not cheap, but solid usage of excess cash on balance sheet,” Havens said in a note to clients.