Halliburton & Baker Hughes Failed To Provide European Regulators With Requested Information, Final Decision On Merger Will Be Extended

According to Reuters, European Union regulators decided on Thursday to delay the approval process of Halliburton Company HAL's merger with Baker Hughes Incorporated BHI. Reuters reported that both Halliburton and Baker Hughes failed to provide requested details to the regulators. Accordingly, the European Commission will set a new deadline for its decision when the requested information is received from both companies. A Deadline of June 23, 2016 was previously set by the regulators. "This is a standard procedure on merger investigations which is activated if the notifying parties do not provide an important piece of information that the Commission has requested from them," Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso told Reuters. U.S. antitrust regulators are also reviewing the proposed merger but has already been approved by regulatory bodies in Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, South Africa and Turkey. Shares of Halliburton were trading higher by more than 2 percent ahead of Monday's opening bell.