Seadrill is cutting its asset exposure by shifting ownership of an ultra-deepwater drillship to a subsidiary through an internal sale at the rig giant, backed by shipping and offshore billionaire John Fredriksen.

The Oslo-listed company said in a statement it would sell the sixth-generation unit West Auriga to Seadrill Capricorn Holdings, a 51%-owned subsidiary of New York-listed affiliate Seadrill Partners, with parent Seadrill holding the remaining 49%.

The deal, expected to close within 30 days, is being carried out through a series of purchases, contributions and assumptions of debt.

The drillship is being sold for $1.24 billion, minus $443.1 million outstanding under an existing credit facility, with Seadrill also providing a $100 million loan to Capricorn maturing in September 2015 to finance the purchase.

Seadrill Partners will pay $355.4 million of the purchase price based on its stake in Capricorn.

The drillship, delivered from South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries last year, is currently working for BP at the Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico under a contract due to expire in 2020, with a dayrate of $565,000.

The vessel disposal follows the recent sale by Seadrill of a pair of deep-water semi-submersibles to internal companies.

The rig contractor recently warned of challenges for the rig market due to reduced oil company spending and project delays, though it believes prospects for the harsh-environment and deep-water segments remain buoyant.