Halliburton throws ‘Hail Mary’ to save $35B deal with Baker Hughes

Halliburton executives are making a last-ditch bid to save the company’s proposed $35 billion tie-up with rival Baker Hughes, The Post has learned.

While the Department of Justice has not made a final decision on whether to file a lawsuit seeking to block the deal, antitrust officials are leaning against the merger of the No. 2 and No. 3 oilfield services firms, according to two sources.

The feds could move as soon as this week to halt the deal, with an announcement coming during the American Bar Association’s annual antitrust conference in Washington, sources said.

Should Halliburton fail in its latest attempt to persuade regulators, it is on the hook to pay a $3.5 billion breakup fee to Baker Hughes. That’s equal to 10 percent of Halliburton’s $30 billion market cap.

Baker Hughes can walk away from the deal at the end of April — and might do so — to collect the sizable fee if the regulator does not act by that time, sources said.

When Halliburton announced the Baker Hughes deal in November 2014, the company said it was prepared to sell assets with as much as $7.5 billion in 2013 revenue to meet antitrust concerns.

But regulators have asked Halliburton to sell assets with roughly $10 billion in revenue, which it is struggling to do after the collapse in oil prices. General Electric is the only company willing to buy some of the assets; the other likely buyer, Weatherford International, is out of the process, sources said.

Baker Hughes shares fell 2 percent Friday, to $42.95.

Reps at Halliburton, Baker Hughes and the Department of Justice either couldn’t be reached or declined to comment.