John Bakht

Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP

Houston
United States
T:+1 713 651 5386
Houston
United States
T:+1 713 651 5386
John Bakht

John Bakht

vCard

Biography

John Bakht is a strategic advisor with nearly 30 years of legal experience guiding clients through all types of transactional, commercial, compliance, operational and governance matters. He represents a diverse range of clients, from energy services and E&P companies to manufacturing, technology, real estate development and professional services clients.  

John has negotiated and structured hundreds of domestic and international transactions, including complex mergers and acquisitions, public and private securities offerings, financing transactions, joint ventures, industrial projects, technology partnerships, and commercial agreements.  Some clients rely on John as an outside general counsel to advise on significant board and executive decisions, corporate governance matters, executive compensation, intellectual property strategy, partner and shareholder agreements and disputes, competition related agreements, and policy and governmental initiatives.

John has acted as special counsel to board committees, advised independent director committees, and counseled boards on compliance with fiduciary duties, including when board members hold potentially conflicting roles, such as representing lenders and private equity firms. 

Earlier in his career, John served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Corporate Secretary of BJ Services, which at one time was among the largest independent upstream oil and gas services companies in North America. He also served as General Counsel of CARBO Ceramics, an NYSE listed manufacturing, environmental services and commercial software licensing company.  Prior to that, John was Vice President (Legal) of Baker Hughes Incorporated, where he partnered with senior management to execute numerous investments, M&A transactions and complex commercial and field development agreements.


Professional experience

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  • JD, The University of Texas School of Law, 1994
  • BA, Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1991
  • Texas State Bar

Represented major renewable natural gas company in multiple project developments and joint ventures in the U.S..

Represented Lewis Energy in the sale of its Colombian E&P operations.

Represented minority owners in sale of iLand Cloud Services, a cloud back up and disaster recovery service provider, to 11:11 Systems, a managed IT infrastructure provider.

Represented independent committee of the board of directors of Forbes Energy Services in sale of Forbes Energy Services to Axis Energy Services.

Represented international E&P company in negotiating venture for carbon capture and storage.

Represented BJ Services in 363 sale of assets and intellectual property rights to TES Acquisition Corp.

Represented robotics technology company in series of capital raises.

Represented major independent oilfield services company in multiple capital raises.

Represented robotic wrench manufacturer in sale of U.S. subsidiary.

Represented KingsClean in acquisition of Frisbee Services.

Represented BJ Services in sale of North American well cementing operations to American Cementing, LLC.

Represented Marathon Oil in certain transactional matters in the United States.Represented Houston-based wire rope company in its sale to Wireco.

Represented Drillform in negotiating long term supply contract with Helmerich & Payne.

Represented CARBO Ceramics, Inc. in disposition of operations in Russia and China.

Represented Baker Hughes in acquisition of Louisiana-based Nova Technologies.

Represented Baker Hughes in formation joint venture with Expro for downhole instrumentation.

Represented Baker Hughes in acquisition of JV interest of Expro. 

Represented Baker Hughes in acquisition of Magnitude Microseismic.

Represented privately held services company in securing $250 million in debt financing.

Represented privately held company in convertible debt offering.

Represented Baker Hughes in sale of EIMCO to Group Laperriere et Verreault

Represented Baker Hughes in sale of Bird Machine Co. to Andritz Group.

Represented Baker Hughes in sale of Petreco International to Cameron International.

Represented U.S. based client in negotiating offshore field development agreements with Petronas Carigali for offshore Malaysia project.

Represented U.S. based client in negotiating offshore field development agreements with PetroEcuador for offshore Ecuador.

Represented Comfort Systems USA, Inc. in initial public offering.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of ACI Mechanical, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of MJ Mechanical Services, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of S.I. Goldman Company.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of S.M. Lawrence, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of Design Mechanical, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of Eastern Heating & Cooling

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of North American Mechanical, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of Seasonaire, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of Temp Right Service, Inc.

Represented Comfort Systems USA in acquisition of BCM Controls, Inc.

Represented U.S. based client in negotiating and closing production sharing agreement with Pemex for development of offshore Mexico E&P assets.

Represented Toyota Motor North America, Inc. in various U.S. transactional matters.

Represented numerous clients in structuring, negotiating and closing more than 250 M&A, venture and technology agreements.