National Oilwell Varco Sets Now Inc Spinoff For End Of May

National Oilwell Varco’s (NOV) board of directors recently approved the spinoff of its distribution business, Now Inc, and the spinoff will take place on May 30th to shareholders of record on May 22nd. The new company will trade on the NYSE under the ticker ‘DNOW’ and NOV shareholders will receive 1 share of DNOW for every 4 NOV shares owned. A ‘when issued’ market is expected to start ‘on or about’ May 20th. The new company will operate under the name DistributionNow which helps explains its ticker.

Initially, NOV’s CEO was expected to step down after the spinoff, but he handed the reins over to new CEO Clay Williams a bit sooner than expected. After the spinoff, Mr. Miller will remove himself entirely from NOV, where he is still Executive Chairman, and become Now Inc’s Executive Chairman. The new company will be led by Robert Workman, a long time NOV employee who has been the President of its distribution business since 2001. Daniel Molinaro and David Cherechinsky will become CFO and Chief Accounting Office respectively.

The rationale for the spin listed in the Form 10 is rather typical, but it’s no secret that NOV’s distribution unit has significantly lower margins. The bulk of the company’s revenues are in the US & Canada, but it does have an international presence. Interestingly, the company did note that the standalone distribution business’ stock would become a ‘valuable acquisition currency’. Sounds like they have some idea of how the company plans to grow its business…which is similar to how it has grown recently. In addition to the Form 10, check out our earlier coverage for additional information on the transaction.

Disclosure: Author holds no position in any stock mentioned