GE had been exploring "exit options" but CFO Jamie Miller says it now sees "a lot of upside" for Baker Hughes.
General Electric's three core assets — power, aviation, and healthcare — may one day be up for grabs.
There's a gap that many acquirers are starting to pay more attention to: the supply chain uncertainty created when companies combine.
“We’ve made the company simpler. We’ve made the company deeper," CEO Jeff Immelt says.
The companies believe the combined entity will be positioned to benefit from the expected recovery in oil prices.
Antitrust actions, buyer cautiousness, and longer due diligence phases have all contributed to a slowdown in mergers and acquisitions.
ValueAct failed to notify regulators that it purchased stock in Baker Hughes and Halliburton after the two companies proposed a merger, says the DOJ.
The oilfield services giant will use its $3.5 billion breakup fee from Halliburton to fund a $1.5 billion share buyback.
"What we are experiencing today [in the energy industry] is far beyond headwinds; it is unsustainable," Halliburton's president says.
"I have never seen [a merger] that poses so many antitrust problems in so many markets," a top Justice Department official says.
The oilfield services supplier has taken another step to ease the concerns of regulators who fear the merger would be anticompetitive.
The U.S. Justice Department reportedly is concerned over whether other oilfield-services companies will provide credible competition.
