Oilfield services giant Baker Hughes swooped in and bought Chart Industries for $13.6 billion on July 29, outbidding and canceling a planned merger of equals between Chart and Flowserve that was previously announced in early June.
After a massive wave of consolidation from the oil and gas producers the last two years, the fragmented services sector is now shrinking as well as the top players buy up more of the midsized players. Baker Hughes is one of the so-called Big Three services companies globally along with Halliburton and industry leader SLB, which just closed its nearly $8 billion acquisition of ChampionX in July.
