The Wall Street Journal was the first to break the news of talks between Royal Dutch Shell and BG Group to create a single company in a £47 billion deal. Under the deal, BG shareholders would receive a combination of cash, £3.83 per share and shares, based on a 90-day average. The combined value represents around a 50% premium to BG’s closing share price of £9.10 last Thursday 3rd April. Shares in BG rose 42% on this morning’s open. Shares in Shell fell 3.4% to £12.30. The dramatic fall in the price of oil has led to takeover activity in the oil and gas sector with notable deals in North America and Europe. This deal, however, is by far the biggest and is subject to regulatory approval which, if granted, will see completion in early 2016. The FTSE100 rose 0.6% on the news, briefly breaching 7,000.
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