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The story
Precision Drilling Ltd. was founded in 1951.
In 1987, Precision Drilling was acquired by Cypress Drilling, led by president Hank Swartout, in a reverse takeover which left the company with a fleet of 19 rigs. Swartout led the company through extensive growth until his retirement in 2007.
In 2005, Precision sold its energy services and international contract-drilling divisions to Weatherford International for $2.28 billion and reorganized as an income trust. Precision converted from an income trust back to a corporation in 2010.
In 2008, Precision acquired its US rival Grey Wolf Inc. for $2 billion, a merger which expanded its rig count in the US, which it had largely left in 2005, over tenfold. The acquisition led to financial difficulties which led to a $330M CAD investment by the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) in 2009, characterized by Maclean's as a bailout. AIMCo divested its stake in 2013.
In 2018, Precision attempted to purchase Trinidad Drilling with over $1B CAD of shares as a white knight, opposing the cash bid of competitor Ensign Energy Services, however a drop in Precision's share price and thus bid value resulted in Ensign's bid prevailing.
In September 2019, amid a difficult energy sector in Alberta, Precision Drilling Corporation's share price fell below the required minimum for the S&P/TSX Composite Index and was removed from the index.
In July 2022, Precision Drilling acquired High Arctic Energy Services Inc.'s welling services and rental divisions for $29.3 million.
From Wikipedia’s article on Precision Drilling, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.6