Halliburton’s Baker Hughes Acquisition Hits A Snag
Halliburton’s acquisition of Baker Hughes could be delayed further by antitrust authorities’ request to provide additional information. The European Commission, which had previously defined August 27 as the deadline for its decision on the deal, will come up with a new schedule after receiving requested data, while the two companies continue working with American authorities.
The companies expect to close the $35 billion deal by the end of the year.
‘Halliburton Company today announced that it has certified substantial compliance with the United States Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request for additional information (second request). Baker Hughes Incorporated previously certified substantial compliance with its second request on July 14, 2015. The companies each received second requests from the DOJ in February 2015 in connection with Halliburton’s pending acquisition of Baker Hughes’ reads a note released by Halliburton on Sunday.
Halliburton does not see in the additional information requests a serious hurdle.
‘Halliburton is fully committed to a target of closing the acquisition in late 2015, though the acquisition agreement provides that the closing can be extended into 2016, if necessary.’
At the same time, according to Reuters, European Union antitrust regulators suspended their review of Halliburton Co's bid for oilfield services rival Baker Hughes, as the companies reportedly failed to provide sufficient data.