Shell-BG Deal Gets EU Approval

European Union on Wednesday approved Shell’s acquisition of BG Group.  

The approval is one of the five regulatory clearances that are pre-conditions to the combination and this is the second pre-condition to be satisfied, following the clearance obtained from the Brazilian competition authority, CADE, in July, BG Group said in a statement.

Commenting on the clearance Shell CEO, Ben van Beurden, said: “Receiving clearance from the European Commission underlines the good progress we are making on the deal. The transaction is on track for completion in early 2016.”

Other pre-conditional approvals are required from Australia (anti-trust and foreign investment) and China (anti-trust) and regulatory filings have been submitted for each of these approvals.

The proposed transaction will also require support from both BG Group and Shell shareholders.

In April this year, Shell announced its decision to buy BG Group in a deal close to 47 billion pounds ($70 billion).

 If the merger goes through, it will be one of the biggest deals for Shell in almost two decades.