ROC Energy Acquisition Corp. (ROC) Completes Drilling Tools International Deal

ROC Energy Acquisition Corp. (ROC) Completes Drilling Tools International Deal

ROC Energy Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:ROC) announced this afternoon that it has completed its business combination with oilfield services company Drilling Tools International (“DTI”).

The transaction generated $25.9 million of cash from a common stock PIPE and $1.7 million of cash from ROC’s trust account, considering redemptions.

Additionally, existing DTI shareholders chose to reinvest $10.8 million of the cash they were to receive in the merger into the common stock PIPE, and affiliates of ROC’s sponsor reinvested the $4.1 million owed to them under convertible promissory notes into the common stock PIPE.

The total PIPE transaction amounted to $40.8 million, including meaningful participation by Fifth Partners, an affiliate of ROC’s sponsor, as well as DTI’s existing preferred shareholders. A portion of the net proceeds was used to fully repay DTI’s revolving credit facility, resulting in zero debt under that facility at closing.

The $319 million deal was originally approved by shareholders during a special meeting held on June 1, but at that time, ROC Energy did not provide a timeline for the closing. Over 83% of the votes cast on the business combination proposal at the meeting were in favor of approving the transaction.

On that same day, the SPAC also held an extension meeting where shareholders approved a proposal to extend the completion deadline from June 6 to August 6, composed of two one-month extensions.

Starting on June 21, DTI’s common stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “DTI”. The combined company  hopes to utilize the public listing to further pursue its strategic consolidation opportunities within the small-cap oilfield services market. It will continue to be led by CEO Wayne Prejean, and CFO David Johnson, alongside the rest of the current DTI management team.

ROC Energy inked the business combination with DTI earlier this year in February. ROC Energy brought about $209 million into the deal through its trust and originally supplemented this with a $45 million PIPE. Houston, Texas-based DTI manufactures and provides a differentiated, rental-focused offering of tools used for horizontal and directional drilling.