The High Court of Justice of England and Wales Sanctions Shell and BG merger
A press release from Royal Dutch Shell (ticker: RDSA, Shell.com) today announced that the company has received permission to complete its $70 billion purchase of BG Group. Shell’s offer for BG represented a 50% premium of BG’s closing share price on the day of the announcement, and was the largest oil and gas deal since Exxon’s (ticker: XOM) $80 billion acquisition of Mobil in 1998.
According to the company’s press release, the BG merger remains subject to the delivery of the court order to the registrar of the companies, but Shell expects that it should become effective on February 15, 2016.
It is expected that dealings in BG shares will be suspended effective 6:00 p.m. (London time) on February 12, and delisted from the London Stock Exchange effective 8:00 a.m. February 15, 2016.
The Shell-BG megamerger
Last month, more than 83% of Shell’s shareholders voted in favor of the merger with BG, solidifying the company’s position in the global natural gas market. The deal made a major splash in the M&A market for Q2’15, accounting for 73% of the total value of all deals in the second quarter.
“BG will accelerate Shell’s financial growth strategy, particularly in deep water and liquefied natural gas: two of Shell’s growth priorities and areas where the company is already one of the industry leaders,” said Shell CEO Ben van Buerden. “Furthermore, the addition of BG’s competitive natural gas positions makes strategic sense, ahead of the long-term growth in demand we see for this cleaner-burning fuel.”
