M&A

The European Union (EU) has extended a deadline for Halliburton Co. to secure a “remedies package” of asset sales to assuage competition concerns about its takeover of Baker Hughes Inc. The EU’s regulatory arm, the European Commission, cited “serious” antitrust concerns in more than 30 product and services lines of the two Houston operators (see Daily GPI,Jan. 13). The EU extended the deadline to review the merger by 20 days to June 23. “Halliburton believes the extension will facilitate the commission’s review of a remedies package, which will be formally offered by the company in the near future in order to address the commission’s concerns,” a spokeswoman for Halliburton said. It presented an updated package of asset sales to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), but it has not disclosed which properties it plans to divest. The DOJ has an April 30 deadline for its review. Halliburton would have to pay Baker a breakup fee of $3.5 billion if the bid is dropped.

Power company Dominion Resources Inc. plans to acquire natural gas distributor and pipeline company Questar Corp. for $4.4 billion cash plus debt in a deal that continues the recent trend of electricity players acquiring natural gas local distribution companies (LDC).

Commodity price collapse-driven woes continued in the midstream sector Monday. CenterPoint Energy Inc. said it is weighing options for its investment in Enable Midstream Partners, including a sale or spinoff. And separately, Azure Midstream Partners LP has temporarily suspended its distribution.

Merger activity in the U.S. energy sector reached its lowest levels in five years during the last three months of 2015, both for values and volumes, PwC US said Thursday.

Houston-based CenterPoint Energy Services Inc. (CES) plans to acquire Continuum Retail Energy Services LLC and its Lakeshore Energy Services LLC unit for $77.5 million plus working capital. The deal also includes the natural gas wholesale assets of Continuum Energy Services LLC.

BG Group shareholders overwhelmingly approved the proposed merger with Royal Dutch Shell plc at their general meeting on Thursday, clearing one of the last hurdles to creating a global energy giant.

The proposed merger of Royal Dutch Shell plc and BG Group plc cleared one of the final hurdles Wednesday when more than 83% of Shell’s shareholders voted in favor of the cash-and-stock deal, now valued at about $50 billion, to create a global energy giant.

Uncertainty about the length and impact of the oil price collapse over the past 18 months has led to an atmosphere of price disparity between buyers and sellers, which contributed to low levels of merger activity in 2015, Deloitte LLP experts said this week.

European regulators have launched the second phase of an antitrust investigation concerning the mega-merger of Halliburton Ltd. and Baker Hughes Inc.