OSLO (Reuters) – U.S. engineering firm Schlumberger and Norway’s Aker Solutions plan to merge their subsea oil and gas construction business and to bring in a third rival, Oslo-listed Subsea 7, as a partner, the firms said on Tuesday.

Aker Solutions will receive $700 million in cash and Schlumberger stock as part of the deal, and expects to book a profit of around $1 billion at the time of closing, the Norwegian company said.

The deal will leave Schlumberger with a 70% stake in the planned joint venture while Aker Solutions gets 20% and Subsea 7 10%, the companies said in a joint statement.

The combined business will have approximately 9,000 employees globally, and the estimated synergy potential is more than $100 million per year in the medium term, they added.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2023.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Stine Jacobsen)