MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell’s takeover of BG Group has received approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, clearing another of the hurdles for the tie-up to go ahead in early 2016, said the Telegraph.
Clearance from FIRB, which advises Australia’s treasurer and government on foreign investment, follows unconditional approval for the deal from Australia’s competition regulator last month.
After earlier clearances in Brazil and from the European Union, the deal now awaits a decision from China’s Ministry of Commerce to satisfy all necessary regulatory approvals. Shareholders still need to vote on the deal.
"The addition of BG’s integrated gas assets in Australia to Shell’s global portfolio is one of the main strategic drivers behind the recommended combination," Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said in a statement.
He said the acquisition of BG remained on track to be completed early next year.
The tie-up with BG, a smaller British company with a strong position in liquefied natural gas and Brazil’s offshore oilfields, is a crucial part of Shell’s strategy to refocus on its natural-gas and deepwater oil businesses. The deal was valued at roughly USDUS70 billion when it was announced in April.
As part of the approval from FIRB in Australia, Shell said it would commit to a cooperative compliance approach to taxation arrangements for BG’s QGC natural gas unit in Australia, in line with its approach elsewhere.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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