Reports indicate that US antitrust review of Transocean’s planned acquisition of Valaris may be nearing a favorable outcome.

Seeking Alpha, citing a CTFN report of September 21, said that the Department of Justice is expected to clear the transaction early and without requiring divestitures. CTFN is a specialized M&A and merger-arbitrage news service.

The deal spread on the $5.8 billion all-stock combination narrowed after the report, to $1.14 from $2.17 on Friday, according to Seeking Alpha. The deal spread is the gap between what a target stock is worth if the merger closes on the stated terms, and what the stock is actually trading at now.

In this context, “the deal spread narrowed to $1.14 from $2.17” means that last Friday, Valaris was trading about $2.17 below the value implied by the exchange ratio. After the report that the DOJ may clear the deal early with no divestitures, that gap shrank to about $1.14.

Transocean and Valaris first announced the combination in February 2026. Under the terms, Valaris shareholders would receive 15.235 Transocean shares for each Valaris share. Transocean shareholders would own about 53% of the combined company and Valaris shareholders about 47% on a fully diluted basis.

The combined company would have an enterprise value of roughly $17 billion and a fleet of 73 rigs, including 33 ultra-deepwater drillships, nine semisubmersibles, and 31 jack-ups, along with an expected backlog of about $10 billion and more than $200 million in identified cost synergies. Closing has been targeted for the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. 

Several regulatory steps have already been completed. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the transaction on June 29, 2026. The CFIUS is an interagency US government committee that reviews certain transactions in which a foreign entity would acquire control of, or a significant interest in, a US business. The CFIUS became involved because Transocean is a Swiss company buying Valaris, which has substantial US operations. 

Australia’s ACCC has also approved it. The companies filed Hart-Scott-Rodino notifications in March 2026. The DOJ issued a second request for information in May. Both companies later certified compliance with that request, Transocean in late August according to earlier CTFN reporting. The parties had earlier entered a timing agreement with the DOJ. 

The remaining major regulatory item cited in the latest coverage is approval from Brazil’s antitrust authority, CADE, which opened a formal review on August 7. CADE’s decision is described as the last regulatory approval still needed to close. 

This latest reporting is an indication of an expected early DOJ clearance with no divestitures, not a published government decision. The companies continue to target a second-half 2026 close, subject to remaining conditions.