Baker Hughes CEO Due Millions if Halliburton Deal Closes

Martin Craighead, chairman and chief executive officer of Baker Hughes Inc, stands to collect millions if Halliburton Co succeeds in its $35 billion takeover and he loses his job, according to regulatory filings.

Halliburton Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar will lead the combined company, which will also retain the Halliburton name. The deal, announced on Monday, will create an oilfield services company big enough to compete with larger rival Schlumberger Ltd .

Baker Hughes said in its most recent proxy statement, filed in March, that if a deal had been done in late 2013 Craighead would have received payments totaling $11.5 million upon a change in control of the company without termination of employment.

If he had been terminated in a merger, Craighead would have been due $26.5 million, a figure that includes $8 million in severance and $6 million to cover excise taxes, the proxy statement said.

A spokeswoman for Baker Hughes did not immediately respond to a request for information about the terms of Craighead's potential payout. But it likely would be well below those of some other CEOs who have received severance packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The figures in the latest proxy filing are based on a share price of $55.26.

The $80.69 bid by Halliburton is over 40 percent higher than that and Craighead's restricted stock and options could be worth millions more.

Craighead started work at Baker Hughes in 1986 and was named president and CEO in January 2012. In 2013, Craighead received total compensation of about $9 million.

(Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston and Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Terry Wade and Tom Brown)