Weatherford To Sell Business To Lubrizol For $825 Million In Cash And Earnout

Weatherford International plc said Monday it is selling its engineered chemistry and drilling fluids businesses to a unit of The Lubrizol Corporation for $750 million in cash, plus a potential $75 million for an earnout tied to the performance of the businesses after the deal has closed. The deal is expected to close before year-end, the oilfield services company said in a statement. The deal is the latest in Weatherford's plan to divest non-core businesses, and brings cash proceeds from such deals to about $1.8 billion in 2014. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade but are down 15.4% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 12%.