Pride International has completed the spin-off of Seahawk Drilling, Inc., a former wholly owned subsidiary of Pride that owns 20 mat-supported jackup rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The spin-off to Pride stockholders was concluded today by way of a pro-rata stock dividend.

Pride stockholders received one share of Seahawk common stock for every 15 shares of Pride common stock held at the close of business on August 14, 2009 and will receive a cash payment in lieu of fractional shares of Seahawk. Pride has received a favorable private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service with respect to the tax-free status of the distribution and certain related transactions. Pride will not retain any shares of Seahawk.

The common stock of Seahawk will commence regular way trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Common Market on August 25, 2009 under the symbol "HAWK" with approximately 11.6 million shares of common stock outstanding. Pride common stock will continue to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "PDE."

Tags: Inc., Pride International, Seahawk Drilling