Integrated Drilling Equipment Announces Merger Agreement With Empeiria Acquisition Corp.

Empeiria Acquisition Corp ("EAC"), a special purpose acquisition company, has merged with Integrated Drilling Equipment Company Holdings Inc. ("IDE"), announced IDE CEO Steve Cope.

Based in Houston, IDE is a leading provider of land drilling rigs, rig refurbishment and reconfiguration services, upgrade packages and related components for offshore rigs, and integrated electrical and control systems for land and offshore rigs. IDE provides these products and services to contract drilling companies worldwide. For the three years ended Dec. 31, 2011, IDE generated revenues of $66.8M, $116.5M and $163.6M, respectively. For the six months ended June 30, 2012, IDE generated revenues of $161.7M, which was up 261 percent over the comparable period in 2011.

IDE's management team, led by Cope; Richard Dodson, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Tony Beebe, Managing Director of Operations will continue to lead the combined entity following the merger. Michael Dion, EAC's Executive Vice President and Director, will join the IDE management team as Chief Financial Officer. James N. Mills, Chairman of EAC's Board of Directors, will continue in that role post-merger, and Alan Menkes, CEO of EAC, will continue as a Director.

"We are extremely excited about this transaction and our potential to transition into a publicly traded company and view this as an important milestone in the evolution of our company and the expansion of our business. The transaction with EAC will strengthen our ability to pursue attractive growth opportunities in new and existing markets and increase our access to sources of capital," said Cope.

Menkes added: "We are pleased to be partnering with IDE's experienced management team to continue IDE's impressive growth. We believe the oil and gas equipment sector has enormous growth opportunities both domestically and abroad and that the quality of IDE's products and services and IDE's sterling reputation among its customers position the company for continued market share gains."

Under the terms of the merger agreement, at the closing, IDE's stockholders will exchange their shares in IDE for a cash consideration of $20M and an aggregate number of newly issued shares of EAC common stock.

About IDE
IDE and its predecessor companies have actively provided services and products to the drilling industry since 1981. IDE's principal service and product offerings consist of the construction of new land rigs based on IDE designs or customized to customers' specifications; providing extensive reconfiguration and refurbishment services for land rigs to repair and extend their life or to adapt them for different drilling environments; providing offshore rig upgrade packages, refurbishment services, and related components for offshore newbuild rigs; supplying integrated electrical systems and control systems for a wide range of land and offshore drilling rigs; and providing engineered hydraulic rig solutions.

About EAC
EAC was formed on Jan. 24, 2011 for the purpose of acquiring one or more operating businesses or assets through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, exchangeable share transaction or other similar business transaction. On June 21, 2011, EAC consummated its public offering of 6,000,000 units, with each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of its common stock. Aggregate net proceeds of $61.2M from the public offering and its concurrent private placement were placed in trust pending completion of EAC's initial business transaction. If consummated, the merger with IDE would constitute EAC's initial business transaction.