General Electric is spending more of its discretionary cash. Just two months after it announced a $3 billion acquisition of energy services company Dresser, GE announced on Monday that it has offered $1.3 billion for U.K. pipeline products maker Wellstream Holdings PLC.
The offer represents a 29 percent premium over Wellstream’s closing share price on Sept. 20, the day Wellstream announced that it had received bids from a number of interested companies. The company, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, designs the pipes used in undersea oil and gas drilling. According to a GE statement issued Monday, the board of Wellstream intends to recommend the transaction to shareholders; it is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.
