General Electric’s Baker Hughes recently held takeover talks with energy-services company Subsea 7, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
Talks broke down but could be revived, the newspaper claimed.
Norway’s Subsea 7 said in a release it has a policy not to comment on speculation or rumours.
While the offshore downturn has seen many of its peers go dormant of late, Subsea 7 has had a very active year to date. In late June, for instance, Subsea 7 picked up a number of businesses from EMAS Chiyoda Subsea, the subsea joint venture led by Singapore’s Ezra Holdings before it filed for chapter 11 in February.
Subsea 7 paid less than $100m in total, including its contribution to the debtor in possession credit facility, to acquire the businesses, the Ingleside spoolbase and sundry other assets.
The acquisition adds around $850m of order backlog for Subsea 7, with $750m of the backlog due in 2017 and 2018.