Halliburton, Baker Hughes to Sell More Businesses

Halliburton Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. said Monday that they plan to unload a handful of other businesses as they continue to seek regulatory approval for their $35 billion merger.

The companies said they plan to sell Halliburton's expandable liner hangers business; Baker Hughes's core completions business, which includes its packers, flow control tools and subsurface safety systems; Baker Hughes's sand control business in the Gulf of Mexico; and Baker Hughes's offshore cementing businesses in Australia, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Halliburton already agreed to divest itself of its fixed cutter and roller cone drill bits, directional drilling and logging-while-drilling/measurement-while-drilling businesses.

The companies said the businesses being divested had $5.2 billion in revenue in 2013.

The two oilfield-services firms, the second- and third-biggest in the industry, agreed to join forces last November following a sharp drop in oil prices.

Antitrust experts have said the merger could face resistance from regulators because it would leave the industry highly concentrated between two large companies: the merged Halliburton, as the new company would be named, and Schlumberger Ltd.

The companies said they haven't reached an agreement with regulators about the adequacy of the divestitures.

The sale of the businesses is contingent on the merger being approved by regulators.

The companies said they have also pushed back the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust review period by three weeks, to mid-December from Nov. 25. They previously had extended the period in July.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

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September 28, 2015 07:45 ET (11:45 GMT)

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