Halliburton retains Deutsche Bank and BofA for USD 5bn asset sales
Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), a US-based provider of products and services to the energy industry, has retained Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of America Corp to conduct the divestiture of two of its businesses valued at up to USD 5bn, a newswire reported citing sources close to the situation.
According to Reuters, Deutsche Bank is conducting the sale of the drill bits business, valued in the area of USD 1.5bn - USD 2bn, while Bank of America is retained to find a buyer for certain parts of the company's Sperry Drilling business, worth USD 3bn.
Halliburton announced on 7 April that it would divest three segments as a result of an antitrust review on its pending USD 34.6bn merger with Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI). It said it would separately market its fixed cutter and roller cone drill bits, its directional drilling business, and its logging-while-drilling/measuring-while-drilling (LWD/MWD) business.
This services recently reported that Halliburton's drill bit unit will likely attract bids from international industrial concerns as well as the expected private equity-backed enterprises and large oilfield services strategics. Potential suitors could include industrial companies like Siemens (FRA: SIE), Sandvik (STO: SAND), Dover Corporation (NYSE: DOV), and ABB (VTX: ABBN) or strategic bidders like National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV) and Superior Energy Services (NYSE: SPN). PE-firms including TPG Capital, KKR, Energy Capital Partners, Macquarie Infrastructure, Intervale Capital and First Reserve could also take a look, the analysis said.
According to the Reuters article, Halliburton could sell other assets as well as it continues to be in talks with antitrust regulators.
Credit Suisse, Halliburton's adviser on the Baker Hughes deal, is also taking part in the auction processes as global coordinator, the item noted.
Halliburton said earlier that it expects to complete the sale of the above mentioned businesses in the same timeframe as the closing of the pending Baker Hughes acquisition late in the second half of 2015.