Halliburton Co. agreed to buy Baker Hughes Inc. in a deal that, if approved by regulators, will turn two of the biggest oil services firms operating during the United States shale energy boom into a domineering force.
Halliburton will buy Baker Hughes for $34.6 billion, valued at $78.62 per share, according to a news release. Baker Hughes shareholders will control 36 percent of the combined company.
“We are pleased to announce this combination with Baker Hughes, which will create a bellwether global oilfield services company and offer compelling benefits for the stockholders, customers and other stakeholders of Baker Hughes and Halliburton,” Dave Lesar, chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton, said in a statement.
The new company is expected to shed $2 billion in costs, Halliburton said.
But as Bloomberg noted, it will also “draw federal antitrust scrutiny, especially where the two companies’ businesses overlap most in North America.”
The two firms are leaders in providing services that aid onshore hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the drilling method that’s led to a domestic oil and gas revolution. Halliburton and Baker Hughes had been competitors, but even together the firms are still only about half the size of oil services firm Schlumberger, according to Bloomberg.
