© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Oct. 31) – Baker Hughes and GE turned to New York law firms to handle their merger that will combine GE’s oil and gas business with Baker Hughes to create a new publicly-traded company co-headquartered in Houston and London.
Houston-based Baker Hughes turned to Shearman & Sterling to negotiate its end of the deal. Boston-based GE hired Davis Polk & Wardwell.
The “new” Baker Hughes, as the companies call it, will be a leading equipment, technology and services provider in the oil and gas industry and will have a combined revenue of $32 billion. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the deal.
GE will own 37.5 percent of the new company, while Baker Hughes will own 62.5 percent. After the closing of the deal, which is slated for mid-2017, the current chief executive officer of GE Oil & Gas will spearhead the new company. Baker Hughes CEO Martin Craighead will serve as vice chairman of the board. GE’s CEO will serve as chairman of the board. The remainder of the executive leadership team will be a combination of existing leaders from both GE and Baker Hughes.
Baker Hughes has both a chief legal officer and a general counsel on its management team. The CLO is Alan Crain, who joined the company in 2000 as GC and was previously the GC of Crown Cork & Seal Company and Union Texas Petroleum. He has also worked in-house for Pennzoil and El Paso Energy.
The current Baker Hughes GC is William Marsh, who joined the company in 1998. He was previously a partner at Ballard Spahr.
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