Halliburton to divest business units in anticipation of Baker Hughes acquisition

Halliburton to divest business units in anticipation of Baker Hughes acquisition: "Halliburton announced that it will separately market for sale the company's Fixed Cutter and Roller Cone Drill Bits, Directional Drilling and Logging-While-Drilling (LWD)/Measurement-While-Drilling (MWD) businesses. The final sale of these businesses will not be completed until we have reached acceptable terms and conditions negotiated by Halliburton, the approval of Halliburton's Board of Directors and final approvals of the Baker Hughes acquisition by competition authorities. "Thanks to employees' hard work, these businesses represent strong products and services in the oilfield services industry, and we believe the value inherent in these businesses will be recognized by prospective buyers," said Dave Lesar, chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton. "Although we would prefer to retain these assets, we will be required to divest some of our overlapping businesses to obtain competition authorities' approvals as anticipated when we announced the Halliburton-Baker Hughes transaction. We are excited about the many benefits of our pending acquisition of Baker Hughes, which was recently approved by the stockholders of both companies, and look forward to creating a bellwether global oilfield services company for the benefit of our stockholders, customers, employees and other stakeholders." Halliburton will operate as one company, including the businesses held for sale, until the sale of the identified businesses is complete, and the company remains focused on providing the same safe, reliable, cost-effective service to its customers. Halliburton expects to complete the sale of the businesses in the same timeframe as the closing of the pending Baker Hughes acquisition late in the second half of 2015."

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