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Baker Hughes headquarters in Houston. (Baker Hughes)

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Baker Hughes Co. agreed to buy industrial equipment maker Chart Industries Inc. for about $9.6 billion in cash, expanding the oil field service giant’s reach into liquefied natural gas, data centers and other technologies.

The deal announced early July 29 calls for Chart investors to receive $210 per share, a 22% premium over the July 28 closing price. The agreement puts an end to Chart’s previous plan to merge with Flowserve Corp.

The move consolidates Baker Hughes’ position in the booming LNG sector and is a significant bet on the outlook for U.S. energy growth amid a slowdown in domestic oil drilling. Electricity demand in the world’s biggest economy is expected to surge in coming years, driven by the expanding artificial intelligence industry.

The $9.6 billion purchase is among the biggest by an oil field-services company and an unusually bold move for Baker Hughes. It’s also the sector’s largest transaction since Baker Hughes merged with General Electric Co.’s oil and gas business, and marks the biggest blue chip debt financing for an acquisition this year.

Buying Chart will bolster Baker Hughes’ presence in the growing markets for services related to data centers and LNG, while reducing the company’s exposure to oil’s boom-and-bust cycles.

Today, we announced our intent to acquire - a milestone in accelerating our company’s energy and industrial technology strategy, increasing the depth of our addressable markets & our growth opportunities. Learn more here: — Baker Hughes (@bakerhughesco)

“It enhances earnings durability and expands our presence in high growth markets,” CEO Lorenzo Simonelli told analysts and investors during a conference call. “We’ll be more industrial and less cyclical.”

Chart rose as much as 16%. Baker Hughes was down 1.5% in late-morning trading in New York.

Chart will sit as a stand-alone company within Baker Hughes’ Industrial & Energy Technology business and avoid full integration for at least the first few years after closing. Baker Hughes also announced plans to sell an additional $1 billion in assets.

Although the Chart deal will double Baker Hughes’ footprint outside traditional oil field contracting, Simonelli made it clear there’s no plan to spinoff its original business line.

Based in rural Georgia, Chart operates 65 manufacturing locations with over 50 service centers globally. It specializes in cryogenic equipment and is a leading manufacturer of gas-liquefaction technology.

Baker Hughes, based in Houston, is already contracted to supply equipment to several gas-export projects in the U.S., including Woodside Energy Group Ltd.’s planned Louisiana LNG complex and plants developed by Venture Global Inc.

The companies expect the deal to close by mid-2026.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Centerview Partners and Morgan Stanley are financial advisers to Baker Hughes on the deal, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and WilmerHale are its legal advisers. Wells Fargo & Co. is financial adviser to Chart and Winston & Strawn is its legal adviser.