GOLDMAN SACHS, RAINWATER, HALIBURTON

Amazing, 17 years later, here we are with RAINWATER, HALIBURTON, GOLDMAN SACHS and the good ole boys!

Once again, Bush's ex-partner, you know the dummy sideline partner of the Texas Rangers......

March 2, 1990

COMPANY NEWS; Simmering Battle on Penrod Begins to Boil
By THOMAS C. HAYES, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
LEAD: A simmering battle for control of the world's largest offshore oil-drilling company, the Penrod Drilling Corporation, has pitted several of its big bankers against a group of investors headed by Richard E. Rainwater, an influential investor from Fort Worth.
A simmering battle for control of the world's largest offshore oil-drilling company, the Penrod Drilling Corporation, has pitted several of its big bankers against a group of investors headed by Richard E. Rainwater, an influential investor from Fort Worth.
The outcome of the struggle, which shows signs of escalating into financial and legal warfare, will determine who owns 39 percent of the world's most modern and efficient offshore drilling rigs at a time when lease rates and offshore drilling activity are rising smartly.
Penrod, organized more than 50 years ago by the legendary wildcatter and billionaire H. L. Hunt, also owns 47 land rigs. Industry analysts said offers for the company had been rumored at more than $500 million. Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. estimated in a report in December that the Penrod rigs have a replacement value of $1.2 billion.
''There is no question that this is the biggest deal'' in the offshore industry since oil prices and drilling rates collapsed in 1986, said Thomas A. Escott, senior vice president at Rauscher, Pierce, Refsnes, a Dallas brokerage. ''With the Hunt brothers going bust, it has taken on a proportion that is larger than life.''
In the early 1980's, with one of Mr. Hunt's sons, W. Herbert Hunt, at the helm, Penrod borrowed heavily from a dozen leading commercial banks, headed by Manufacturers Hanover and First Chicago, to expand its fleet aggressively.
After oil prices collapsed, Herbert Hunt and two brothers, Nelson Bunker and Lamar, battled creditors in court for more than three years in a vain attempt to keep control of Penrod plus other assets once valued in the billions of dollars. Herbert and Bunker Hunt agreed to liquidate their trusts in December.
The Hunts' control over Penrod diminished in 1988 when the banks agreed to write off $250 million of Penrod's debt in exchange for an equal voice with the Hunts in the company's business affairs.
Weeks before the December agreement, Penrod's trustees had rejected an unsolicited offer of $325 million for the drilling contractor from the Rowan Companies, a competing driller. At the time, a group headed by Mr. Rainwater, who was once a key strategist for another famous family of Texas investors, the Bass brothers of Fort Worth, had bought small amounts of Penrod debt and equity at a discount from some of the banks.
Meanwhile, another family of investors, the Tisches of New York, offered $450 million to acquire all of Penrod, people familiar with the bid said. The Penrod trustees have not ruled on the Tisch offer.
The unsolicited bids persuaded Penrod's banks that they could reclaim most of their $530 million in unrecovered loans and interest if the entire company is auctioned, say investment bankers in the oilfield service business.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rainwater is raising his stake in Penrod. On Wednesday, the Energy Service Company, a contract driller in Houston that he controls, said a partnership including the Fort Worth investor; Goldman, Sachs, and others had raised their holdings of Penrod debt to 27.1 percent and their equity to 13.6 percent.
The Rainwater announcement came after Penrod's creditors, including banks and representatives from the Rainwater group, could not agree on the driller's fate, said an investment banker who asked not to be identified.
C. Christopher Gaut, chief financial officer at Energy Service, said today that the Rainwater group wants Penrod to remain independent.
''We have had discussions with the company about a recapitalization,'' he said. ''We believe that is the route that offers the best value for all the holders.''
Several analysts said Mr. Rainwater's goal might not be to keep Penrod independent or gain control, but to force bidders to pay a premium.
That happened two years ago, when a Rainwater group delayed Halliburton Inc.'s acquisition of Gearhart Industries for several months. Halliburton finally completed the deal after it agreed to pay $67 million for subordinated debt in Gearhart that the Rainwater group had bought for $33 million seven months earlier.
In its statement Wednesday, Energy Service said the Rainwater-Goldman, Sachs group had spent $44.4 million to acquire its current Penrod holdings.

Correction: March 5, 1990, Monday, Late Edition - Final
An article in Business Day on Friday about the Penrod Drilling Corporation misstated the extent of the company's ownership of offshore drilling rigs. Penrod owns 39 modern drilling rigs, not 39 percent of the world's total.