Baker Hughes sells Waygate Technologies to Hexagon for $1.45 billion

Baker Hughes agreed to sell Waygate Technologies to Hexagon for about $1.45 billion in cash, a move that shows both companies trying to sharpen where they compete and where they spend capital. The deal was announced April 13, 2026, and is expected to close in the second half of 2026, pending customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

For Baker Hughes, the sale fits a broader effort to manage its portfolio around higher-return assets. The Houston-based oilfield services company said the transaction matched its strategic approach to value creation and portfolio management. That message matters because Baker Hughes has been active on the buy side too. In July 2025, it agreed to buy Chart Industries in a $13.6 billion all-cash deal, saying the acquisition would add capabilities tied to natural gas, data centers and decarbonization. Selling Waygate now suggests Baker Hughes is willing to prune a more mature industrial inspection business while it concentrates on larger bets in energy and adjacent industrial markets.

Hexagon, based in Sweden, is buying a business that fits neatly with what it already sells. The company said Waygate’s inspection technologies complement its precision measurement hardware, CT analysis and visualization software, and production quality and data management platforms. Hexagon plans to fund the acquisition with cash and existing debt capacity, signaling confidence that the asset can be absorbed without straining its balance sheet. The attraction is not just revenue scale but margin quality: Reuters reported Waygate generated about $630 million in fiscal 2025 revenue with a 10% EBIT margin, while Hexagon said the radiography and remote visual inspection platforms alone brought in about $330 million of revenue at a 16% EBIT margin.

Waygate itself has long roots in industrial testing. Baker Hughes said the business began in 2004 as GE Inspection Technologies, became part of Baker Hughes in 2017 and was renamed Waygate Technologies in 2020. Baker Hughes also said the brand lineage stretches back more than 125 years through legacy inspection names. That history helps explain why the unit has value, but also why it may have more strategic fit inside a specialist industrial-tech portfolio than inside a broader energy-services company.

The deal reflects a larger trend in industrial M&A: businesses with strong niche positions can often command more strategic value under a new owner than as one division inside a sprawling parent. For Baker Hughes, the cash adds flexibility after years of heavy portfolio activity and comes as the company reported record 2025 adjusted EBITDA margins of 17.4% and free cash flow of $2.73 billion. For Hexagon, Waygate is a chance to deepen a high-margin inspection and software platform in a market where precision data and quality control are becoming central competitive advantages.