US: GE said to be in advanced talks for Halliburton drilling assets

General Electric Co. is in advanced talks to buy the drill-bits and drilling-services divisions of Halliburton which is divesting assets to win antitrust approval for its takeover of Baker Hughes Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

Selling both the drill-bits and drilling-services businesses could have fetched as much as $5 billion in total for the oilfield services provider, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this year, when the units were each put on the block. It is not clear how much the decline in oil prices — which have been hovering near six-year lows — may have affected their respective market values.

GE is also exploring bids for other assets that Halliburton is seeking to unload, including parts of Baker Hughes’s completions operations, two of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. No final deal with GE has been reached, and Halliburton may still decide to sell some or all of the other assets to other buyers, said the people.

Full content: Reuters

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