New York, February 12, 2026, 09:27 EST — Premarket
- Valaris closed up 10.8% on Wednesday at $88.42, and was hovering around $88.4 in early premarket trade
- Fitch and S&P moved Valaris’ credit ratings to negative watch after its agreed all-stock sale to Transocean
- Traders are watching Valaris’ Feb. 19 earnings for fresh detail on the deal and 2026 outlook
Valaris Limited (NYSE: VAL) shares were little changed in premarket trading on Thursday, after jumping 10.79% in the prior session to close at $88.42. The stock was last around $88.4, with the market still pricing it as a takeover target rather than a stand-alone driller. (Yahoo Finance)
What shifted in the past day is the credit view. Fitch placed Valaris’ ‘B+’ issuer rating on Rating Watch Negative, while S&P Global Ratings put Valaris’ ‘B+’ issuer rating and ‘BB’ issue ratings on CreditWatch Negative — both are warning labels that a downgrade could follow. (Fitch Ratings)
That matters now because the deal is steering the tape. In an all-stock takeover, the target’s shares tend to shadow the buyer’s stock, with merger-arbitrage funds trying to capture the gap between the trading price and the deal’s implied value. The watch items add a second layer: if the agencies cut ratings, financing assumptions and risk appetite can move, fast.
Transocean said on Monday it would buy Valaris in a $5.8 billion all-stock deal, pitching the tie-up as a way to broaden its offshore rig exposure and push down leverage. “We know that our debt level negatively impacts our equity value. This transaction addresses that,” Transocean CEO Keelan Adamson told a conference call. (Reuters)
Under the terms, Valaris shareholders would receive a fixed 15.235 Transocean shares for each Valaris share. The companies put the pro-forma enterprise value — a measure that includes debt — at about $17 billion and said the combined fleet would total 73 rigs, with closing expected in the second half of 2026, subject to approvals. In the same statement, Valaris CEO Anton Dibowitz said the combination would “create a new industry leader.”
Some industry watchers see the deal as another step in a market that is already crowded. Leslie Cook, a principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said Transocean would “solidify” its position in high-spec ultra-deepwater and become a top-five player in high-spec jack-ups once the merger is completed. (Woodmac)
Regulators and shareholders will have paperwork to chew through. A Valaris 8-K filing said the companies entered into a business combination agreement on Feb. 9.
Offshore drilling peers were moving, too. Transocean shares were up about 10% in premarket trading, while Noble rose about 5%, keeping attention on the sector’s consolidation and dayrate debate.
But deal trades break when the underlying assumptions break. If Transocean stock slides, the implied value for Valaris falls with it; if approvals drag, the spread can widen. And the longer-dated risk hasn’t gone away — offshore demand still leans on oil prices and customers’ capital budgets.
The next hard catalyst is Feb. 19, when Valaris is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results before the New York Stock Exchange opens, then hold a conference call at 10 a.m. ET. Traders will be listening for guidance on fleet utilization and dayrates — and any fresh detail on how the Transocean tie-up gets from announcement to a shareholder vote. (Valaris)
