The board of directors for National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), Houston, TX, have authorized management to move forward with exploration of a plan to spin-off NOV’s distribution business from the remainder of the company, creating two stand-alone, publicly traded corporations.
Pete Miller, CEO of National Oilwell Varco, said, “Through the hard work and dedicated efforts of its employees, and with last year’s acquisitions of Wilson Supply and C.E. Franklin, we believe the company’s distribution business now has the market size and scale to operate as a standalone, world class, distribution company.”
As a separate company, Miller said, the distribution group would have over 415 locations and operations in 26 countries. The spin-off, which does not require shareholder approval, is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014.