Commission approves Baker Hughes' acquisition of Chart Industries, subject to conditions

Commission approves Baker Hughes' acquisition of Chart Industries, subject to conditions

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition by Baker Hughes Company (‘Baker Hughes') of Chart Industries, Inc. (‘Chart'), both headquartered in the US. The approval is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments offered by Baker Hughes and Chart.

Baker Hughes is a global energy technology company, mainly active in products and services for the oil and gas industry. Chart is a designer and manufacturer of industrial process equipment for the energy and gas industry.

Both companies are active in the global supply of equipment and technology for the liquefaction of natural gas. That is the process by which natural gas is cooled to cryogenic temperatures and condensed into liquefied natural gas (‘LNG') for transport over long distances. Together, Baker Hughes and Chart would offer all of the key components needed to set up and operate an LNG liquefaction plant.

The Commission's investigation

The Commission had concerns that the transaction, as initially notified, would lead to reduced competition in the global markets for LNG liquefaction equipment and technologies, markets in which European companies participate as competitors and customers. In particular, the Commission's investigation found that Baker Hughes holds a dominant position in the market for LNG compressor trains, which it could use to give an unfair competitive advantage to Chart's LNG business, in such a way that Chart's rivals may no longer be able to compete effectively. For instance, Baker Hughes could, in various ways, (i) make its dominant compressor available for sale only to customers who also purchase Chart's products, (ii) degrade Baker Hughes and Chart products' interoperability with third party products, or (iii) use commercially sensitive information obtained in projects involving competing LNG process technology providers to further benefit Chart.

The Commission was concerned that by combining all these products and technologies in the hands of Baker Hughes, competition in these global markets would be harmed, with detrimental effects on prices and innovation.

The proposed remedies

To address the Commission's preliminary competition concerns, Baker Hughes and Chart offered:

• to divest Chart's proprietary process technology (‘IPSMR'), and its small-scale process technology business to a suitable third-party purchaser to be approved by the Commission; and
• to ensure the interoperability of their equipment with third parties' LNG equipment.

These obligations will run for a ten-year period.

These commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, by removing Baker Hughes' ability and incentive to favour Chart's LNG business.

The Commission therefore concluded that the transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns.

The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments. Under the supervision of the Commission, an independent trustee will monitor their implementation.

The Commission will assess the suitability of buyers proposed by Baker Hughes and Chart in the context of a separate buyer approval procedure.

Merger control rules and procedure

The transaction was notified to the Commission on 21 May 2026.

The Commission has the duty to assess mergers and acquisitions involving companies with a turnover above certain thresholds (see Article 1 of the EU Merger Regulation) and to prevent concentrations that would significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.

The vast majority of notified mergers do not pose competition problems and are cleared after a routine review. From the moment a transaction is notified, the Commission generally has 25 working days to decide whether to grant approval (Phase I) or to start an in-depth investigation (Phase II). If commitments are proposed in Phase I, the Commission has 10 additional working days, bringing the total duration of a Phase I case to 35 working days, such as in this case.

For more information

More information will be available on the Commission's competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.12161.