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Royal Dutch Shell shareholders back BG Group tie-up

Published: 10:40 27 Jan 2016 EST

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Shell said it was delighted with the outcome of the vote

Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) shareholders have backed its controversial £35.6bn merger with gas explorer and producer BG Group (LON:BG.).

Shell said investors had cast just over 83.1% of total votes in favour of the deal, with about 16.9% against.

Standard Life Investments was one of the prominent shareholders to vote against, saying it believed the deal was no longer viable in the light of falling oil prices.

Investors in BG are set to vote on the deal on Thursday. If they back it, the pair expect the merger to complete on February 15, subject to some conditions being met.

Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said: "I am delighted with the positive shareholder vote and the confidence that shareholders have shown in the strategic logic of the combination of Shell and BG.

"Our immediate focus is on the successful completion of the transaction and we now await the results of tomorrow’s BG shareholder vote.”

Some investors voiced concern about whether the deal was still justified, given the plunge in oil prices from more than US$100 a barrel in late 2014 to just over US$30 on Wednesday.

Shell originally approached BG last April when the oil price stood at about US$55 a barrel.

But it said last month that the break-even price per barrel for the deal was in the low US$60s, rather than the US$65 it had previously mentioned.

The company planned to underpin the deal by cutting costs and capital investment by US$12bn last year, with further reductions expected this year.

It also proposed to reduce staff and contractor numbers by 7,500 globally last year and forecast a further cut of 2,800 staff as a result of the merger.

Shell expects the tie-up to enhance its free cash-flow, accelerate its deep-water and liquefied natural gas strategy and create a springboard to reshape itself.

Shares in Shell rose 5.5p to 1426p in mid-afternoon trading. BG Group's stock climbed 16.6p to 1011.5p.

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