A company controlled by a director of Norway-based drilling contractor Seadrill has bought up 50,000 ordinary shares in the rig-owning firm he co-directs with Norway’s richest man, the shipping magnate John Fredriksen.

Tor Olav Troim is understood to have paid 3.82 million kroner ($627,000) for the stock just a day after company shares fell some 10 percent on credit crisis fears. The fall came before the U.K. government aired a bail-out plan for banks, and today the stock rallied by 10.69 percent.

Oslo burse also rallied in early trading Thursday by nearly five percent over the previous day. The energy- and rig-focused burse was helped by the rising stock of the world's No. 2 rig company by numbers of rigs.

Before the credit crisis’s worst fluctuations, Fredriksen was arranging sale and leaseback arrangements for a fourth and fifth deepwater driller. The company expects to receive $1 billion in cash for the $1.7 billion sale of the West Hercules and West Taurus, subject to a 15-year lease-back which starts immediately after the sale.

Seadrill completed sale and leaseback arrangements for three of its deepwater units this year, and debt financeers have not shrugged from engaging company leadership despite the ongoing financial crisis.

The company is considering similar financing structures for its other newbuilds and existing rigs.

Tags: Seadrill