General Electric is poised to buy Vetco Gray, a Houston-based equipment supplier to the oil and gas industries, for roughly $1.9 billion, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Vetco Gray is a subsidiary of Vetco International, which is owned by three private equity firms, Candover, 3i Group and JPMorgan Partners, according to the Vetco Web site.
The possible deal was first reported on the Web site of the Financial Times newspaper on Sunday, which said such a deal would be a clear sign of GE's appetite for companies servicing the booming energy sector.
General Electric declined to comment and Vetco Gray was not immediately available for comment.
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