This is a U.S. asset carve-out, not a TSX exit
Ranger Energy Services (NYSE: RNGR) said August 31 it signed an asset purchase agreement for STEP Energy Services' U.S. coiled tubing business. STEP (TSX: STEP) is the seller. Consideration is about US$27.5 million: US$22.5 million cash and US$5.0 million of Ranger Class A common stock priced on a 30-day VWAP before close. Close is expected on or about September 11, subject to third-party consents and other customary conditions.
The package is 13 full coiled tubing spreads, related equipment and inventory, and certain property and vehicle leases. Ranger expects to hire about 220 STEP coiled tubing staff. STEP's U.S. footprint runs from the Bakken through South Texas, with the largest presence in the Permian. Ranger said the deal would make it the second-largest U.S. onshore coiled tubing operator.
STEP's Canadian business, including coiled tubing, fracturing, and cementing in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, is outside this agreement. Do not write STEP as leaving the TSX or abandoning Alberta pressure pumping.
Neutral read
STEP is on the listed oilfield-services list. Banks were skipped. US$27.5 million, 13 spreads, and a September 11 close target are the facts. Write this as a geographic shrink, not as a corporate liquidation. Watch whether consents actually arrive by mid-September, what STEP does with the cash, and whether Canadian activity picks up after the U.S. overhead comes off.