Helix and Hornbeck complete merger; combined company to trade as HOS

The primary source explicitly reports that Helix Energy Solutions Group and Hornbeck Offshore Services completed their previously announced all-stock combination on September 1, 2026, with HLX scheduled to cease trading and the combined company scheduled to begin trading as HOS. This is a concrete merger completion and securities-listing transition with direct forward implications for the two companies and their shareholders, rather than a market-performance observation. Because the transaction had been announced previously and was expected to close in the second half of 2026, the completion is informative but not highly surprising. The calendar date is explicit, but no precise intraday completion time is provided, so the timestamp is normalized to midnight UTC with moderately high timing confidence. Indirect impacts on competitors and offshore contractors are too speculative for approval; only the directly affected HLX and HOS securities are approved stakeholders.