Sanjel Corp. expects to recover as little as $325-million from the sale of its U.S. and Canadian assets.Todd Korol
The sale of Sanjel Corp.'s Canadian assets closed Tuesday despite a last-ditch effort by bondholders to block the transaction.
Sanjel's well-cementing business was sold under court supervision to 1961531 Alberta Ltd. while STEP Energy Services Ltd. bought its hydraulic fracturing and coil-tubing unit. Both purchasers are backed by ARC Financial Corp., a Calgary-based private equity firm.
A separate acquisition of Sanjel's U.S. holdings by Liberty Oilfield Services LLC is expected to close June 3.
The holders of $300-million (U.S.) in Sanjel bonds had tried to block the sales on grounds that they were left out of the process – an effort that was ultimately rejected by a Calgary judge.
The numbered company will be renamed Sanjel Energy Services Inc. and will look to hire new staff, said Shane Hooker, chief executive officer of the new entity. "We have a business to run with the assets we purchased and we're going to be looking to add the best people out there to do that," he said by phone.
The purchase prices were not disclosed. However, Sanjel had previously said it expected to recover between $325-million (Canadian) and $375-million from the sales of its Canadian and U.S. businesses – well short of the $1.4-billion it said its assets were worth in earlier court filings and less than what is owed to its lending syndicate.