US oil driller Patterson-UTI has purchased drill bit manufacturer Ulterra Drilling Technologies from the energy sector wing of private equity firm Blackstone.

The $800m cash and stock combined purchase will see Patterson-UTi take on 100% of Ulterra, founded in 2005, which is the world’s largest independent supplier of oil and gas well PDC (polycrystalline diamond compact) drill bits.

The deal will be composed of $370m paid through a mixture of cash and credit, with the remaining payment of $429.9m in stock. This amounts to 34.9 million shares valued at $12.32 apiece.

Andy Hendrick, Patterson-UTI CEO, said: “Ulterra's industry-leading position in the North American PDC drill bit market will expand our operational and technology portfolio and strengthen our position as a leading drilling and completions company.”

Hendrick continued: “The addition of Ulterra to our drilling offering and our recent announcement to merge with NexTier Oilfield Solutions advances our strategy to enhance our positions in both drilling and completions, areas where Patterson-UTI has a strong 45-year history of operations and innovation."

The merger mentioned above will see Patterson-UTI operate in the most active US oil basins, with operations across 172 drilling rigs. Patterson-UTI took a 55% shareholding in NexTier, increasing the total enterprise value to $5.4bn.

"Ulterra's data-centric approach to manufacturing, operations and marketing has been key to their success in the PDC drill bit business […] When you consider the combination of data systems from Patterson-UTI, NexTier and Ulterra, we believe we will have the most comprehensive set of data for drilling and completions across the US,” said Patterson-UTI COO Mike Holcomb.

The Patterson-UTI takeover of Ulterra, which has operations and a customer base spread across 30 countries, is set to close in the latter half of 2023.