Find out why Keppel's latest jack-up rig order is a company jewel

It's priced at a whopping US$210m.

According to CIMB, Keppel secured a KFELS B class jack-up rig order from PV Drilling Overseas, priced at US$210m and due for delivery in 1Q15.

The rig is priced at a 2% premium (US$5m) to the B class rigs secured from Grupo R in Marc 2013, to factor in the tighter delivery schedule of 1Q15. Grupo R's rigs are due for delivery in 2Q-4Q15.

Here's more from CIMB:

We think that Keppel is selective in its contracts, reserving yard slots for higher margin/value jobs.

We believe that the current rig will yield in EBIT margin of 15-18% for the repeated design as it is the 19th KFELS B Class rig on Keppel's order book.

45 such rigs have been delivered since 2000. The current rig is slightly higher price than SMM's recent jack-up rigs from Oreo Negro Mexico at US$208.5m each, with a later delivery scheduled.

The semi-sub contract that Keppel secured from SOCAR in June was also priced at a 6% premium over the semi-sub that Diamond Offshore awarded Hyundai Heavy Industries and at 25% above the two semi-subs that Naftogazz Ukraine awarded Keppel in Mar 2013.

Keppel has not lost any customers despite the unbeatable financing offered by the Chinese yards. In fact, it continues to gather strong order momentum, especially in jack-up rigs, which dominated c.90% of its 2013 order wins.