Oilfield-services giant Schlumberger, Houston, (NYSE: SLB) has offered to acquire seismic-marine company Eastern Echo Holdings Plc, Cypress, (Oslo: ECHO) for approximately US$679 million. Eastern Echo has rejected the bid. Schlumberger offered to pay 12 Norwegian crowns per share, a premium of about 57% over the share price of about 8 crowns when Schlumberger made the offer, increasing its earlier offer of 11 to 12 crowns. The share price jumped to more than 13 crowns following the offer. Eastern said in a statement that the offer price does not represent the fair value of the company. "The board and management believe that the fair value of the company, based on today's valuation in the industry, could be above NOK 20 (crowns) per share."