RIYADH: Arabian Drilling Co., a Saudi oilfield services firm partly backed by Schlumberger, has hired HSBC and SNB Capital for its planned initial public offering, Bloomberg reported, quoting people familiar with the matter. The sources said the deal could value the company at more than $1.4 billion. According to the report, the company is also mulling a merger with ADES International Holding Plc. However, the report noted that discussions between Arabian Drilling and ADES are currently at the very early stages, and they may decide not to combine. The majority owner of Arabian Drilling is Saudi Arabia’s Industrialization & Energy Services Company, also known as Taqa. Taqa owns a 51 percent stake in Arabian Drilling, while Schlumberger possesses the rest.