Boart Longyear Acquires Eklund Drilling Company, Inc.

Boart Longyear Acquires Eklund Drilling Company, Inc.

Boart Longyear Limited announced that it has acquired Eklund Drilling Company Inc., a U.S.-based company with headquarters in Elko, Nev., specializing in reverse circulation (RC) drilling. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Eklund is expected to add approximately USD $50 million in annual revenues. The acquisition will expand the company’s position in global RC drilling services and will be immediately accretive to earnings.

“Eklund Drilling Company has an excellent reputation with many key mining clients and is a strategic complement to our existing business,” said Scott Alexander, vice president of global drilling services for Boart Longyear. “This acquisition expands our footprint in a key RC market, and we look forward to welcoming Eklund Drillng Company to the Boart Longyear team.”

Eklund Drilling Company will add 31 rigs to the Boart Longyear fleet and 170 employees, including a highly-regarded and seasoned management team.

“All of us at Eklund Drilling Company are very excited to join Boart Longyear. They are truly a first-class, world-renowned organization,” said Lance Eklund, CEO of Eklund Drilling Company. “We believe this new partnership offers the perfect fit for our clients, our employees and their futures.”

“Eklund represents the fifth acquisition that we have completed in the past year and is one of our largest to date,” said Craig Kipp, president and chief operating officer of Boart Longyear. “These acquisitions have expanded our geographic presence, improved our alignment with major mining companies and broadened our range of product offerings.

“Our focused pipeline of available acquisition targets is expected to continue to provide opportunities to execute Boart Longyear’s acquisition strategy, further solidifying our leading global market positions in the fragmented drilling services industry as well as the drilling products and equipment industry,” said Kipp.

In addition, Boart Longyear has amended certain terms of its bank credit agreement to create more flexibility to finance future acquisitions.

About Boart Longyear

Boart Longyear is a global organization headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, with offices and operations in Asia Pacific, North and South America, Europe and Africa. The company, with over a 100 year history, is the leading provider of drilling services and drilling products for the global mining industry. It also has a substantial presence in environmental drilling, as well as for water exploration, and oil sands.

With 2007 sales of over $1.5 billion and 9,700 employees worldwide, the company conducts contract drilling services in more than 40 countries, and provides mining products to customers in over 100 countries.

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