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GE Announces 3-Yr Plan to Fully Divest from Baker Hughes

Less than one year after buying Baker Hughes, GE decided it didn’t want its bright shiny new toy anymore and would divest itself of Baker Hughes (see GE Dumping Baker Hughes in Bid to Boost Stock Price). Baker Huges separated from GE last October and has been its own company since that time. However, GE still owns 37% of Baker Hughes (BKR) stock. Yesterday, as part of GE’s 2Q20 update, the company announced it will liquidate all of its remaining BKR stock over the next three years.
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GE Dumping Baker Hughes in Bid to Boost Stock Price

Looks like “Baker Hughes, a GE Company” will soon become just plain old “Baker Hughes” once again. This morning GE released the results of a year-long internal review. GE has its fingers in a lot of pies and wants to pull its fingers out of some of those pies. The results of the review recommend GE dump Baker Hughes (over the next 2-3 years), and also dump its healthcare division. The company will concentrate on three “complimentary” areas: aviation, power and renewable energy. The hope is that by focusing and shedding peripheral business units, the company’s financial performance, and stock price, will improve. Just last week GE was booted from the Dow Jones Industrial Average after being a component of that average for over 100 years. The company’s stock was replaced on the DJIA by Walgreens. Truly humiliating. You may recall Halliburton originally wanted to buy Baker Hughes but the Obama Justice Department blocked the deal (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). Then GE came sniffing around and ended up buying BH in July last year, combining BH with GE Oil & Gas (see Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.). The resulting merged company was billed as a “fullstream” company–ticking all of the boxes in the oil and gas sector: upstream, midstream and downstream. But just four months after the merger there were signs of marriage problems (see 4 Months After Buying Baker Hughes, GE Wants to Sell It). And now it’s official. The two will be splitsville…
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Keep It…Sell It…GE Now Back to Keeping Baker Hughes

Industrial giant GE (General Electric) wooed and won the hand of Baker Hughes (BH)–the third largest oilfield services company in the world–buying/merging in Baker Hughes with GE’s Oil and Gas division in July 2017 (see Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.). But four months later, GE’s new CEO, John Flannery, said he wants out of the marriage (see 4 Months After Buying Baker Hughes, GE Wants to Sell It). Flannery said he was looking to sell all of, or part of, GE’s majority stake in what is now called “Baker Hughes, a GE Company.” Then yesterday, Flannery changed his mind again. Can anyone say, “Flaky Flannery” three times really fast? Yesterday GE said the Baker Hughes unit is now off the table and will not be sold as part of a plan to divest the company from $20 billion worth of businesses it owns. GE now “likes the combination [with Baker Hughes] a lot.” Go figure. Here’s the latest…
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4 Months After Buying Baker Hughes, GE Wants to Sell It

Industrial giant GE (General Electric) wooed and won the hand of Baker Hughes (BH)–the third largest oilfield services company in the world–buying/merging in Baker Hughes with GE’s Oil and Gas division just four months ago (see Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.). It didn’t take much for BH to say “yes” to GE’s proposal for marriage, coming off a botched attempt at marriage with Halliburton–a deal that the Obama DOJ destroyed (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). But now, four months into wedded bliss, GE has a new CEO and he wants out of the marriage. CEO John Flannery is looking to sell all of, or part of, GE’s majority stake in what is now called “Baker Hughes, a GE Company.” GE wants the nameplate on the door to just say “Baker Hughes, a Company.” Man oh man–four months and he already wants out of the marriage. What does that do to the self-esteem of the BH bride? Maybe GE can get an annulment? After all, it’s only been four months…
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US DOJ Demands Payments from GE re Unsold Water Biz

In July, GE Oil & Gas completed its merger/buyout of oilfield services giant Baker Hughes (see Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.). As is typical in these kinds of megamergers, governmental agencies that review the deal make the deal contingent on certain requirements. In the case of GE/Baker Hughes, the U.S. Dept. of Justice demanded GE sell its Water & Process Technologies business. GE agreed, and lined up a buyer (Suez, a French waste and water group). However, the deal has not happened (yet), and because there is a delay in making it happen due to “various administrative challenges,” the DOJ is demanding GE make DAILY payments–to the DOJ–as an “incentive” to get the deal done. The amount of the payments is unspecified. Where will all that money go? We don’t know, but we can certainly imagine. What do swamp-dwellers do with free money?…
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Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.

The new Baker Hughes logo, released Monday

As of Tuesday, the world now has its first and (so far) only “fullstream” company–a company that ticks all of the boxes in the oil and gas section–upstream, midstream and downstream. In October 2016 MDN brought you the news that GE Oil & Gas was making a play to buy out and merge in Baker Hughes Inc. (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). The merger faced its share of challenges, but compared to Halliburton’s attempt to buy Baker Hughes, which was denied by the Obama Dept. of Justice, this merger was a piece of cake. The newly merged company, flying under the name Baker Hughes, a GE company (NYSE ticker symbol of BHGE) has sailed by oilfield services company Halliburton to become #2 OFS company in the world. It may even be larger that #1 Schlumberger (we haven’t heard yet). As we pointed out in June, this is not some sort of 50/50 merger, this is a takeover/buyout of Baker Hughes by GE. Most of the new top management at the merged company comes from GE (see Baker Hughes, GE Release Roster of Coming Management Changes). Today is the first day the newly merged company’s stock begins to trade. It will be interesting to see at what price it trades…
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Coming GE-Baker Hughes Merger – World’s First “Full-Stream” Co.

You’ve heard of upstream, which that portion of the industry that finds and drills for natural gas and oil. You’ve heard of midstream, the pipelines and processing plants portion of the industry. And you’ve heard of downstream, which includes petrochemical plants, industrial users, and homeowners who use the stuff found and transported. But have you ever heard of “full-stream?” That would be a company that is involved, in a major way, in all three major areas of the energy business. Companies like Exxon Mobil and Shell come close, but they don’t really fit that description. They drill for oil and gas (upstream), and they have some pipelines (minimal). They do have a big presence in the downstream, with cracker plants and other petrochemical facilities. However, the first truly full-stream company is about to be born, from the merger between GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes. It will be a “molecule to megawatt” company. MDN friend Steven Heins, an energy and regulatory consultant and former vice president of communication for Orion Energy Systems, shares his observations about the impending merger and what it means…
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Trump DOJ Blesses GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Merging Soon

During the Obama reign of terror, the world’s #2 largest oilfield services company, Halliburton, tried to buy the world’s #3 largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes. The Obama Dept. of Justice (DOJ) killed that deal (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). It was a costly mistake for Halliburton–they had to pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee. Baker Hughes was on a mission to sell itself to someone, and eventually found a new suitor last October: GE Oil & Gas (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). Since then the two have worked hard to ensure there will not be a repeat of the Halliburton disaster. Earlier this month we told you that Europe has blessed the deal (see Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name). Now the Trump DOJ has blessed the deal too. GE had to agree to sell its Water & Process Technologies business (called GE Water). Small price to pay. The two maintain that the merger will take place “mid-year”. Since it’s already mid-year, we expect that translates to July or August…
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Baker Hughes, GE Release Roster of Coming Management Changes

Yesterday MDN provided an update about the fast-approaching merger/buyout of Baker Hughes by GE Oil & Gas (see Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name). We noted that it appears the new company, when launched, will have a new name: Bear Newco. However, would GE (and Baker Hughes) throw away the brand they’ve created over the past 100+ years in the Baker Hughes name? No, very doubtful. Which was more-or-less confirmed yesterday when Baker Hughes (and GE Oil & Gas) released the official leadership roster for the new company. We had already mentioned a few of the top names. This new list fleshes it all out–who will do what in the newly merged company, a company that will be bigger than current #2 in the world, Halliburton. The infographic (we call it a roster) of who will do what contains this name emblazoned across the top: “Baker Hughes, a GE Company.” The press release headline includes it too. So that’s what the new company name will be for branding/public purposes. Even though Bear Newco will be the company name filing paperwork with the government, the public-facing name will be Baker Hughes, a GE Company. Here’s the leadership roster for the new Baker Hughes (which doesn’t contain very much Baker Hughes)…
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Europe Approves GE Takeover of Baker Hughes, Co Gets a New Name

Last October, MDN brought you the news that Baker Hughes, the world’s third largest oilfield services company, had struck a deal to combine/merge with/sell itself to GE’s oil and gas business (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, will result in a new company that will be 65.5% owned by GE and 37.5% owned by Baker Hughes shareholders. The deal, IF it gets approved by the Dept. of Justice, will create a company with $32 billion in revenues. Make no mistake, aside from all of the “partnership” talk, this is GE buying out Baker Hughes. The CEO of the new company will be Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Oil & Gas. The board of directors for the new company will have 5 members appointed by GE and 4 members appointed by Baker Hughes. The deal, if it happens, would catapult the new Baker Hughes, which will have the name Bear Newco, past Halliburton to become the world’s second largest oilfield services company. Get this: The deal may even catapult the new company to become the world’s number one oilfield services company–eclipsing Schlumberger! As we said at the time: The question now is, will the Dept. of Justice approve the deal? Last year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed Baker Hughes merger with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). Perhaps in an early sign that the DOJ will approve this merger, the European Commission has given its blessing on the deal…
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GE Oil & Gas Invests $25 Million in LNG Co Tellurian

keep finger in the pieSeems like GE Oil & Gas is putting its fingers in every U.S. o&g pie it can. In October GE announced it would pursue Baker Hughes for a merger/buyout (see Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G). Now it’s investing $25 million (chump change for GE) in Tellurian Investments. Tellurian, you may recall, was founded and is run by Charif Souki, the fired co-founder of Cheniere Energy. Souki was bounced out of LNG company Cheniere by evil corporate raider Carl Ichan (see Corp Raider Carl Icahn Admits He Fired Cheniere CEO Charif Souki). So Souki started Tellurian which in turn is on a mission to build Driftwood LNG to compete with his old company Cheniere (see Fired Cheniere Energy CEO Charif Souki’s Revenge: Driftwood LNG). GE’s investment will help advance the Driftwood project. Sadly, there are no heros in this story. Souki disgraced himself when he went on CNBC and said he would consider renouncing his U.S. citizenship if Donald Trump won the presidency (see Will Charif Souki Renounce His American Citizenship?). Like a host of spineless Hollywood types who threatened to leave if The Donald won, Souki has yet to man up and actually do it. We’re still waiting…
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Breaking: Who Needs Halliburton? Baker Hughes Merging with GE O&G

M&AAs this post is being written and published, the world’s third largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes, is holding an investor webcast to announce it has struck a deal to combine/merge with/sell itself to GE’s oil and gas business. The deal, according to the Wall Street Journal, will result in a new company that will be 65.5% owned by GE and 37.5% owned by Baker Hughes shareholders. The deal, IF it gets approved by the Dept. of Justice, will create a company with $32 billion in revenues. Make no mistake, aside from all of the “partnership” talk, this is GE buying out Baker Hughes. The CEO of the new company will be Lorenzo Simonelli, chief executive of GE Oil & Gas. The board of directors for the new company will have 5 members appointed by GE and 4 members appointed by Baker Hughes. The deal, if it happens, would catapult the new Baker Hughes (or whatever it will be called) past Halliburton to become the world’s second largest oilfield services company. Get this: The deal may even catapult the new company to become the world’s number one oilfield services company–eclipsing Schlumberger! The question now is, will the Dept. of Justice approve the deal? Earlier this year the Obama DOJ killed the proposed Baker Hughes merger with Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Kills Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger, Deal “Terminated”). We suppose it depends on who wins the White House next week. Look for Hillary to approve the deal. She’s in bed (figuratively) with GE chief executive Jeff Immelt. As Secretary of State, Clinton lobbied Alergia for a GE power plant contract. After Alegeria gave GE the $1.9 BILLION contract, Jeff Immelt gave a $1 million “donation” to the Clinton Foundation (see GE’s Jeffrey Immelt roped into Clinton cash scandal). That’s how it works in the corrupt world of Clinton Inc. We’re not sure what Trump would do about the proposed deal. Here’s the lowdown on GE’s proposed buyout of Baker Hughes…
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Scuttlebutt: With Halliburton Deal Crumbling, GE Eyes Baker Hughes

rumor-mill.jpgLast Thursday MDN brought you the news that the Dept. of Justice has decided to try to block the merger/buyout of oilfield services company Baker Hughes by bigger oilfield services company Halliburton (see Obama DOJ Sues to Block Halliburton/Baker Hughes Merger). When you add up opposition from both Europe and Brazil, this deal looks like it will never take place. So what happens now? Halliburton/BH say they will fight the DOJ’s action. But let’s get real. When was the last time anyone went up against the DOJ antitrust division and won? Which brings us to the rumor mill, which is now swirling that General Electric’s (GE) Oil & Gas division may make a run at buying out Baker Hughes…
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4 People Win GE/Statoil Contest to Reduce Water Used in Shale

GE and Norwegian oil giant Statoil today announced four winners of their Open Innovation Challenge, a contest designed to use crowd sourcing to find solutions that reduce fresh water use in shale oil and gas production. There of the winners are in the United States, and one is from Australia. Each winner gets a cash prize of $25,000 with the promise of future funding for their technology. Here’s the cool new technologies that won this year’s contest…
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Columbia Gas Gets “Intelligent” Pipelines from GE/Accenture

Who knew that pipelines could actually be “intelligent”? We sure didn’t. GE and Accenture have just announced that Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) is the first company to deploy their “Intelligent Pipeline Solution”–a breakthrough software solution that helps pipeline operators make informed decisions about pipeline safety and integrity. Columbia Pipeline Group has deployed the GE/Accenture Intelligence Pipeline Solution on 15,000 miles of interstate pipelines–much of that flowing Marcellus and Utica Shale gas. The software monitors pipeline threats, improves risk management and provides “situational awareness” in near real-time…
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GDS Intl Adopts GE Software to Increase Efficiency, Reduce Costs

You may not think that computer software would have much to do with drilling holes in the ground and extracting natural gas and oil. But you would be wrong. If you ever visit a drilling rig and are fortunate enough to make a visit to “the dog house,” which is the equivalent of a jetliner cockpit where the rig is controlled by high-powered computers (and software), you’ll quickly understand how high-tech drilling has become. But it’s not just controlling a rig where computers are used in the oil and gas business–they’re used throughout the business. In fact there is software that, well, monitors other software. GE (nee General Electric) has a software offering that monitors drilling rigs and other equipment at drill sites. At least that’s how we understand it. GE issued a press release yesterday to tout the fact that GDS (Global Drilling Support) International is using GE’s “Equipment Insight” solution at rigs in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale in a six-month pilot program to squeeze ever more efficiency from the drilling process…
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