The dispute escalated at one stage to newspaper advertisements run by International Drill Quip when the deal originally fell apart in mid 2002.

Six months after the deal was originally announced in early 2002, SDS told the stock exchange it had launched legal proceedings against Drill Quip in the WA Supreme Court in order to get access to information to carry out due diligence, which it claims was being withheld.

SDS managing director Fred Moir claimed Drill Quip had refused to provide crucial information such as work in progress and stock figures. The Supreme Court of Western Australia handed a subsequent judgement to SDS. An appeal brought by International Drill Quip was dismissed.

Yesterday SDS said it had finalised the deal on June 1 and would pay cash of $844,477, a convertible note valued at $844,477 and $844,477 worth of shares in SDS Corporation Ltd (1,688,954 shares at 50 cents – escrowed for 12 months).