US based oilfield services provider Halliburton has terminated the proposed $28bn deal to acquire Baker Hughes, a supplier of oilfield services, products, technology and systems to the oil and natural gas industry.
The termination of the merger deal, which was signed in 2014, follows oppositions from US and European antitrust regulators.
Halliburton CEO and chairman Dave Lesar said: "While both companies expected the proposed merger to result in compelling benefits to shareholders, customers and other stakeholders, challenges in obtaining remaining regulatory approvals and general industry conditions that severely damaged deal economics led to the conclusion that termination is the best course of action."
Recently, the US government has filed a lawsuit to prevent Halliburton from acquiring Baker Hughes claiming that the deal would eliminate competition and increase the prices in the oil services sector.
In 2015, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has raised concerns in its preliminary view over the merger deal claiming that it would raise competition concerns in a number of markets for the supply of oilfield goods and services.
Baker Hughes chairman and CEO Martin Craighead said: "This was an extremely complex, global transaction and, ultimately, a solution could not be found to satisfy the antitrust concerns of regulators, both in the United States and abroad."
The deal’s value has been reduced to $28bn from $34.6bn due to slump in oil price, reported Bloomberg.
Halliburton will also pay $3.5bn in termination fee to Baker Hughes.
Halliburton earlier said announced its plan to cut 6,000 jobs in the first quarter in order to reduce costs.
The firm said that its total revenue dropped by 17% to $4.2bn in the first quarter from the previous three months.
Image: Halliburton headquarters at Houston, Texas, US. Photo: courtesy of 0x0077BE/Wikipedia.