Baker Hughes shareholders overwhelmingly approved a merger with GE Oil & Gas on Friday morning. The company announced the deal is scheduled to close on Monday.
More than 99 percent of the votes cast at the special meeting approved the combination, Baker said, creating “Baker Hughes, a GE company,” which will be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BHGE.
Martin Craighead, chairman and chief executive officer of Baker Hughes, called the vote “an important milestone” in the merger. He said the combination will join “best-in-class oilfield technology and services, manufacturing capabilities and digital offerings.”
“I am more confident than ever in the promise of the new company and the benefits it will bring,” he said.
Lorenzo Simonelli, president and chief executive officer of GE Oil & Gas, thanked the team for working “around the clock” to close the deal.
The vote was not a surprise. Analysts have long expected shareholders to approve the deal, which would turn the struggling Baker into the second-largest oilfield services company in the world.
“It’s a big deal,” Dave Anderson, an analyst for the multinational bank Barclays, said earlier this month. “Baker Hughes becomes a much bigger player.”
The Baker-GE merger has now jumped its three biggest hurdles. It secured approvals from the European Union in May and the U.S. Justice Department earlier this month. The Justice Department had only one condition: GE must sell its Water & Process Technologies Business. GE, however, said it already has a buyer.
Analysts, while split on the potential effectiveness of the merger, don’t doubt that it will help both companies. Baker Hughes struggled through the oil bust. And its failed merger with Houston’s Halliburton, now the number two firm in the world, left it further weakened — even including Halliburton’s $3.5 billion breakup payment.
GE Oil & Gas chief executive Lorenzo Simonelli will serve as CEO of the new firm. Baker chief Martin Craighead will become vice chairman. And GE, which had revenues of $123.7 billion in 2016, will add new resources to a company that had become a distant number three in the sector.
Once the deal closes, the new Baker Hughes will surpass Halliburton and trail only global energy services leader Schlumberger.
This story first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more click here.
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