Noble Corporation, an offshore drilling contractor, completed the merger with Pacific Drilling, a company offering ultra-deepwater drilling services to the oil and natural gas production industry. As part of the transaction, Pacific Drilling's equity holders received 16.6m shares of Noble, or approximately 24.9% of the outstanding shares of Noble at closing. "I am very pleased to have closed this transaction quickly and am delighted to welcome our new employees, customers, and shareholders into the Noble family. This is an important step for Noble as we continue to strengthen our fleet and focus on delivering safe and efficient services to our global customers," Robert Eifler, Noble President and CEO.