Halliburton Buys Rival as Big Oil Mergers Return

Halliburton, the world’s second-biggest oilfield services provider, said Monday it will acquire its smaller rival Baker Hughes in a deal worth $34.6 billion in cash and stock.

Halliburton said the deal is worth $78.62 for each Baker Hughes share, based on the closing price of Halliburton’s shares on Nov. 12. The deal offer is a 31 percent premium over Baker Hughes’ closing stock price on Friday.

Last week, Halliburton was reportedly seeking to replace the Baker Hughes board as merger talks between the two companies stalled. Baker Hughes said Friday it had rejected Halliburton’s initial takeover proposal, which was made more than a month ago. The deal was expected to create $2 billion in synergies after divestitures.

On a pro-forma basis, the combined company had 2013 revenues of $51.8 billion, more than 136,000 employees and operations in more than 80 countries around the world, Halliburton said in a statement.

“The transaction will combine the companies’ product and service capabilities to deliver an unsurpassed depth and breadth of solutions to our customers, creating a Houston-based global oilfield services champion, manufacturing and exporting technologies, and creating jobs and serving customers around the globe,” Dave Lesar, chairman and CEO of Halliburton, said in a statement.

—Reuters contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Fortune.com