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BG. BG Grp.

1,062.00
0.00 (0.00%)
24 Dec 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
BG Grp. LSE:BG. London Ordinary Share GB0008762899 ORD 10P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  0.00 0.00% 1,062.00 0.00 00:00:00
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
  -
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
- O 0 1,062.00 GBX

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Date Time Title Posts
09/1/201915:17BG GROUP2,026
04/3/201609:13BG-SHELL Deal343
01/3/201620:55BG Group PLC _ ACTIVE INVESTORS CLUB (BG.)-
10/8/201506:12BG Group - A world leader in natural gas1,662
07/5/201513:58BG Group Takeover11

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Posted at 02/2/2016 17:32 by jammyjambo
I own BG Group shares and have to make the decision of what to do with them.
I'm no pro investor which may explain my confusion. But why would I not just sell my shares now which are approx 1015 each rather than take the offer next week of 383p per share + [0.4454 * (RDSB - divs)?
Or am I missing the point? Is the 383 on top of the share price on the day of the decision?
Thanks, James
Posted at 30/1/2016 12:52 by spob
January 29, 2016

Questions swirl around Royal Dutch Shell’s dividend

Christopher Adams, Energy Editor

FT


With BG takeover, futures are pricing in a cut to the group’s payout amid oil price rout
A totem sign stands illuminated outside a Royal Dutch Shell Plc gas station as light trails are left by moving traffic in this long exposure photograph in Romford, U.K., on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, which is buying BG Group Plc in the industry's largest deal in a decade, expects fourth-quarter profit to drop at least 42 percent after the rout in crude prices deepened. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg©Bloomberg

Investors mispriced at least one risk in the recent market turmoil: the likelihood that Royal Dutch Shell’s £36bn offer for UK oil and gas producer BG Group would collapse.
Even as it became clear that shareholders in the two companies would vote for the deal, as they did this week despite the plunge in oil prices, anyone inclined to bank an attractive 5 per cent return could do so simply by buying BG shares.


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For months BG’s shares traded well below Shell’s offer value, and that discount has since narrowed. But that does not mean the takeover of BG, the biggest energy deal in more than a decade, is without risk for Shell. Far from it.

The acquisition, due to be completed on February 15, will end nearly 20 years of independence for an asset-rich producer and nimble natural gas trader that was spun out of the old British Gas in 1997.

Shell’s reserves will grow by 25 per cent to 17bn barrels of oil equivalent, including substantial deepwater crude output in Brazil and liquefied natural gas production in Australia. But it is taking on substantial capital spending commitments, including investment in BG’s asset portfolio, and thousands of employees. Issuing shares to fund its cash-and-paper bid will add to Shell’s dividend costs. All this just as the crude price has crashed to its lowest level in 12 years, hitting revenues and profits.

There will be savings. Some 2,800 jobs will be lost as a result of the takeover, $30bn of assets will be sold, and capital spending at the combined group slashed. These steps are designed to shore up cash flow and keep Shell’s promise to shareholders to at least maintain last year’s dividend — of $1.88 per share — in 2016.
The question is whether, and for how long, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant can sustain this payout.

Oil majors’ shares have long been valued for their reliable income streams: Shell has not cut its dividend for many decades. But exchange-traded dividend futures are pricing in about a 17 per cent cut to Shell’s payout this year, and steeper reductions, of more than 40 per cent, for 2017 and 2018.

Indeed, with Brent crude trading this week at just over $30 a barrel, 70 per cent below its 2014 peak, this was the most pertinent concern raised by BG’s army of small investors at a packed meeting in London on Thursday to approve the Shell takeover. Andrew Gould, BG chairman, said the board had paid “considerable attention” to the measures outlined to safeguard the dividend. In other words, Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, should be trusted to deliver.

The problem with this, say critics, is that the bid for BG, announced in April, followed a quarter in which Brent had traded at about $55 a barrel. The assumption then was that the economics of the deal worked at prices nearer $90.

Chart: Shell-BG deal spread

In the weeks that followed, as crude fell, Shell sought to reassure by saying the deal also worked at $70. But Brent has since tumbled to half that level.

Shell now says the deal works in the “mid-$60s̶1; — but even that requires a substantial recovery in Brent crude. Moreover, while the industry has embarked on savage cuts, mainly to spending on new projects, it has yet to feel the cash flow benefits from falling labour and equipment costs. This will take time. Hence Shell's 8.4 per cent dividend yield.

Yet, for all the risks to cash flow, analysts say Shell is well positioned to weather the storm. Irene Himona at Société; Générale says that, assuming Brent stays at $30 for the first half of 2016 and averages $40 for the year, the combined group’s organic free cash flow — what is left after capital spending — will be negative in 2016, but increase to about $4bn in 2017, assuming crude rises to $60 by then, higher than the $40 to $45 range currently suggested by futures markets.

Brazil is the big prize for Shell in BG deal

Ben van Beurden, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell, addresses a press conference in central London on January 29, 2015, to release its fourth quarter results announcement and its fourth quarter interim dividend announcement for 2014. Energy group Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday announced an eight-percent drop in annual net profits owing to a slump in global oil prices and said it would accelerate spending cuts. AFP PHOTO / BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Speculation that Royal Dutch Shell would buy BG Group has been doing the rounds of the oil industry for at least the past 20 years. On Wednesday, it became reality.

The dividend cost would be about $15bn in 2017, if the payout is set at the same level earmarked for this year. Shell should all but close the $11bn gap with organic free cash flow through proceeds from asset sales, and it could further trim its capital spending budget. The group could also borrow more.

True, Shell expects a one-notch cut to its investment grade credit rating once the BG deal is completed, because of weaker oil prices. But additional funding costs would be minimal, says Ms Himona. And in a $60 world Shell will be a “formidable powerhouse” of LNG and deepwater assets.

“The difference between a supermajor and other oil companies is that a supermajor has a huge balance sheet, in this case a $400bn balance sheet which is highly rated,” she argues. Shell will “take the pain” long before it considers cutting the dividend, she adds.

If there is to be a cut, as the market fears, that debate still looks some way off. As Chris Wheaton at Allianz Global Investors puts it: “Many other things will go wrong in this industry before we get to dividend sanctity.”
Speaking to shareholders this week, Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer, said this of future dividend prospects: “We have not made a statement about the dividend beyond 2016 other than there is no change to the dividend policy, which in simple terms is to grow in line with earnings and cash flow.”
Posted at 18/1/2016 18:33 by zyzzyva
all deals have a maximum value that they would work at, though everyone will have their own opinion on what that is. what price would the deal be at if it was announced as at today? certainly not $70bn. that theoretical price might be just 300p a share plus the $10bn net debt. E&P assets have crashed and the Brazilian assets only have option value. check out the trouble Petrobras is in.

the BG share price is an illusion, as it is tied to the deal terms. what would the BG share price be now if no deal had been announced. someone posted that the last time oil prices were at this level, BG was at 280p. that matches my thinking that BG could fall to £2 if the deal was pulled.
Posted at 15/1/2016 21:57 by whiskeyinthejar
He talked about the oil price because he was asked! Its going to come up isn't it!

But article is clear - he said merger is “not a bet on the oil price”.

Going back to your other comment- I'm not spinning it I'm putting it simply.

You or Spob or whoever can disagree or put me right, but I don't think I've written anything unreasonable.

The Oz Gas facilities are an asset which I say is worth £13 Billion because that's the facilities cost to build. You don't have to agree they are worth that, but if you don't have a reason to disagree then you've lost the argument.

I actually suggest the Oz Gas LNG facilities are worth more to Shell, because Shell can use them to develop their current Oz assets.

Anyway, the remainder of bid is new Shell shares in return for the existing BG shares. So Shell shareholders get diluted by 20%, which in return Shell increases proven reserves by 25% and increases in production by 20%. Again you can say, actually Shell has refinery assets etc. so exchange is unfair. Or you can say BG are increasing production exponentially and gas is more valuable than oil, so deal undervalues BG. That's your call, but in terms of exchanging dilution for bg reserves thats the deal simply put.

However, if this deal wasn't happening, because BG is moving from investment phase to more of a production phase, BG share price would imo outperform Shell and the sector over the next year.

Oz Gas project is now on stream and ramping up, Brazil has ramped up production and so unlike last few years BG have free cash flow. Depending on prices this ought to mean a growing dividend.

Anyway, BG shareprice has fell from over £15 to £9 because Oz project overran, all the cash generated was being soaked into the massive gas project and pessimism over gas price. Pessimism over gas persists, but project is complete now, so Shell are are getting BG rather cheaply imo.

But you don't get to buy a premium company without paying a premium to current shareprice. That shouldn't concern Shell holders however, as BG is obviously worth more as part of Shell than as a standalone company because of synergies and risks being spread (Shell identified $3.5 billion of cost saving synergies etc.)
Posted at 15/1/2016 18:26 by zyzzyva
have you already posted the forms? what if the oil price keeps falling? BG were 800p back in April before the bid. so with the oil price halved it might be worth less than 300p if the deal falls through. see other producers share prices - PMO is down 90% since early May.
Posted at 13/1/2016 21:11 by enturner
Value used for conversion of RDSB shares received to cash will be the opening price for RDSB on 15th February under the current agreement. Your £3.83 per BG. share is fixed, but if you elect to receive all in cash then the RDSB shares you receive under the offer (0.4454 RDSB for every BG. share) would be converted to cash based on the opening RDSB price on the 15th Feb. You won't know your total until that day but you will have to elect (other than the default position) beforehand. I believe 10th. The risk is that the market will be diluted, and under downward pressure, on the day but the cash leaves you the option to buy back in at a lower level shortly afterwards. You spend a little extra on Stamp and broker fees but at least you hit the button on an agreed price beforehand rather than leaving it up to the market makers on the 15th. I suspect we'll see a little dip 16th-19th when dilution/offloading will occur and a 100% cash option could be converted into RDSB at optimum buying levels. An all Share option however could see you saving stamp duty and broker fees whilst buying RDSB at an average of low 1200s. The default option gives you the option somewhere in the middle. Once again you make your own mind up as no one ever really knows how the market will react. Best of luck and hope this helps. If anyone sees it differently then I welcome a response. E
Posted at 09/1/2016 13:20 by whoppy
So if we converted cash into Shell shares we would be getting them for £12-14, depending on closing price on the date of the offer?.
Considering the Shell divi, the more Shell shares you get the better. What the share price does in the long term who knows, but getting as many Shell shares at the low price would seem a good thing.
Posted at 21/12/2015 12:27 by shalder
If you do the maths then buying BG. @ say 930 and holding to completion of deal is equivalent to buying RDSB @ 1228 xd, versus current market price of 1469, i.e. a discount of above 16%. it then comes down to whether you are confident the deal will go ahead and that the terms are not renegotiated (which requires inter alia that both sets of shareholders approve the deal next month). If the deal is aborted then the BG. share price will lose its support and likely fall substantially. You pays your money....
Posted at 26/8/2015 21:34 by spob
Funds bet on Shell deal as oil prices plunge


Arash Massoudi and Miles Johnson

FT

24 August 2015


A global stock market sell-off and tumbling oil prices have increased fears that some of this year’s largest takeover deals are at risk of falling apart — including Royal Dutch Shell’s $70bn bid for UK rival BG Group.

Over the past week, the gap between the agreed price of several takeovers and the market price of the target companies’ shares has widened, as funds that specialise in profiting from these situations have taken fright.


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The spread on Monday between the £13.50 cash-and-stock offer that Shell made for BG Group, and the price of BG’s shares in the market reached its highest level since the deal was first announced in April.

Brokers and traders said that at one point the spread stood at 17 per cent, as oil prices hit their lowest level in more than six years, with Brent crude about $43 a barrel.

Shares in BG Group fell 6.9 per cent to £9.31 on Monday, while Shell shares lost 6.3 per cent to £15.86.

A widening of the deal spread does not necessarily mean a takeover is at immediate risk of collapsing, but is usually interpreted as a signal of declining confidence that the transaction will complete as planned.

One broker said that bets on the outcome of Shell’s deal for BG represented the biggest trades being made by so-called event-driven hedge funds in Europe.

He added that he had not seen as many questions being asked about a deal’s prospects since last year’s tie-up between US drugmaker AbbVie and UK rival Shire.

That transaction collapsed unexpectedly when AbbVie walked away from the deal, causing large losses to arbitrage funds blindsided by the move.

Another deal spread to reach its widest level on Monday was that between Halliburton’s $35bn offer for US oilfield services company Baker Hughes and the target group’s market value. This deal, which was agreed last November, is still awaiting regulatory clearance in the US.
"This sort of environment tends to create opportunities to trade around dislocated spreads"

- Alper Ince, managing director at Paamco

Alper Ince, a managing director at Paamco, a California-based investor in hedge funds with $9.5bn of assets under management, said: “The energy space is probably bearing the brunt of this, while other large deal spreads in other sectors are showing less signs of stress so far.”

He added that some hedge funds would seek to profit from the jitters surrounding takeover deals. “This sort of environment tends to create opportunities to trade around dislocated spreads,” Mr Ince said.

Shell has tried to defend the price it is paying for BG Group, despite the continuing weakening of the oil price since the transaction was announced.

Its executives said they had found more potential cost savings since the deal was first announced, and the chief financial officer told investors that the deal works even if the oil price does not rise beyond $70 a barrel in the coming years. Shell has also argued that an acquisition would immediately add to its cash flow and allow it to maintain its dividend.

Additional reporting by Anjli Raval




COMMENTS (20)

FTpsuedo
5 hours ago

What happens to the del logic if the oil price stays below $50 a barrel until 2020?
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Phil_20686
1 day ago

I always find it a bit odd that Shell is not simply buying shares in BG group in the open market. If BG group is far below the target price why not buy as much of the company as you can at a discount to your offer?
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John Newquay
1 day ago

Shell management have spent months defending this deal. How can they now say they are paying too much without losing face?
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4RecommendReply
W_G
1 day ago

When the price of oil collapses, some oil companies become relatively inexpensive because the economics of drilling with the risks attached really don't match up against purchasing discovered reserves. And actually, any oil company can be in play as it becomes harder to replace reserves when it becomes non-economic to drill. So where are Amoco, Arco, Enterprise, Getty or Mobil or Conoco and Phillips as stand-alone companies? It really has less to do with efficiencies but more to do with deep pockets and companies that have a fiduciary responsibility to their share holders to provide a return on investment. The former can buy and latter may sell.
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3RecommendReply
Felix Drost
2 days ago

Another possible significant Shell failure. After rushing into shale, Russia and Canadian tar sands, retreating from Nigeria for politically correct reasons and bumbling into potentially dangerous Alaskan waters, here, another risky maneuver is turning sour. Admittedly, Shell no longer is the rational engineering company boldly expanding into a world that rewards bold rationalism. What Shell fails to realize sufficiently is just how quickly the world is changing. Energy prices thanks to shale and its spinoff technologies will remain very low for the medium term at least. This was foreseeable but Shell did not foresee it. A company like Shell ought to translate low oil prices into palpable benefits for its downstream customers. Instead it's playing high stake games and falls short.
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MalcolmHartney
1 day ago

@Felix Drost aren't you being 'wise with hindsight'? The deal still makes sense if Shell is in it for the long term.
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Felix Drost
1 day ago

@MalcolmHartney @Felix Drost

No, we've been discussing a long term depressed oil price for about a year here now in the comments section, guesstimating a long term price between $40 and $60. Shale reserves are huge and (nowadays) hyper competitive companies are rushing new technologies in order to extract every last penny's worth and prove their relevance. Oil is now at $38, that profoundly hurts shale production but shale cannot be killed, shale technologies now are very mature and continue to improve: the moment oil goes up, so will shale production and with it, the price point at which the method is profitable falls.

Of course it would be hindsight to say that the deal is too expensive now if there was no previous track record, but there was. I've never said anything about stock prices because those are more closely related to bubbles in China than Shell's actual performance and outlook.

I used to be a "fan" of Shell under Jeroen van der Veer, but these are different times and the bets are far riskier. Better understanding these bets and calling them professionally is what Shell needs to do. Considering all the failures I enumerated, Shell no longer has that capability. It is living in the past.
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Guy_Bransford
2 days ago

Shell buying BG now is like RBS buy ABN AMRO in March 2008. Why the hurry for Shell? Why not at the very least prorate their offer for market moves since the deal was announced?
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6RecommendReply
John Clark 54
2 days ago

@Guy_Bransford Shell's management 'prorating' their offer could be admitting they had made a mistake and losing the chance of managing the enlarged company. I suspect they would rather lose their shareholder's money than lose face.
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7RecommendReply
taffer
2 days ago

@John Clark 54 @Guy_Bransford how much exit fees would need to be paid to BG?
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tinhatman
2 days ago

@taffer @John Clark 54 @Guy_Bransford £750m reverse break fee payable for change of recommendation to Shell shareholders on the class 1 approval.
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1RecommendReply
Be a Debaser
2 days ago

@tinhatman @taffer @John Clark 54 @Guy_Bransford

Interesting, only 1% break fee.... Is that market norm? Seems quite low to me considering the potential impact for BG.
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MalcolmHartney
1 day ago

@John Clark 54 @Guy_Bransford As a shareholder I would rather they went ahead. I don't think BG is as bad a deal as ABN AMRO was for RBS (and note that Santander bought some 'attractive' bits of ABN AMRO!).
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Mr Passive
1 day ago

She'll are paying 60% or so in shares so the deal price moves with the mkt. but I don't think She'll have quite factored in how low and for how long oil prices will stay low.....
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The real greybeard
1 day ago

@Mr Passive When you know how long the oil price will stay low, you will become a very rich man.
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1RecommendReply
Mr Passive
1 day ago

@The real greybeard @Mr Passive Bull mkts last about 7-10 years, bear mkts about 17
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JP
1 day ago

@Mr Passive rubbish.. Markets fall about 3 times faster than they rise ... fear is so much strionger than greed... puts always more expensive than calls at the wings ..
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Mr Passive
1 day ago

@JP @Mr Passive in oil errrr fact. Go and look back at the very long term charts for how long the oil price stays down
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JP
1 day ago

@Mr Passive This deal perhaps isn't so much about oil... maybe on the face of it these are both 'oil' companies .. but once the deal is done ... this is an LNG powerhouse... these projects require so much capex that scale has to be an asset... Low prices will fix the oil price... just like high prices fixed themselves...
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3RecommendReply
FTpsuedo
5 hours ago

@JP @Mr Passive they could short BG stock, then walk away from the deal, maybe the profit would cover their break fee? Or isn't that legal?
Posted at 08/4/2015 16:28 by spob
Shell strikes £47bn agreed takeover of BG


FT

8 April 2015


Royal Dutch Shell is to buy BG Group in the energy industry’s biggest deal in more than a decade, paying £47bn ($70bn) for the equity of its rival.

The transaction is the oil sector’s most dramatic response so far to the slide in crude prices, which have slumped 50 per cent since last June, and could usher in further consolidation across the industry as companies scramble to cut costs.


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The deal will increase Shell’s oil and gas reserves by a quarter and its production by 20 per cent. Analysts say it could put the company on track to surpass ExxonMobil as the world’s largest non-state oil company by output.

Acquiring BG will also turn Shell into the largest foreign oil company in Brazil, one of the world’s richest and most exciting oil provinces, and strengthen its position as the largest producer of liquefied natural gas among the global majors.

BG shares were 28 per cent higher £11.69 in afternoon trading in London. Shell’s B shares were down almost 8 per cent at £20.33 with some analysts suggesting Shell may have paid a steep price for its rival.

However, Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said the deal represented an “incredibly exciting moment” for the Anglo-Dutch major, which has struggled in recent years to boost production and increase its reserves.

He said Shell had long had its eye on BG but the recent fall in the oil price, which has dragged down the valuations of all the main energy groups, made a deal ”very compelling from a value perspective”. BG’s share price had fallen 28 per cent between last June and the announcement of Wednesday’s deal.

Shell will pay BG shareholders 383p a share in cash, plus 0.4454 B shares in Shell. That is equivalent to £13.50p a BG share and values BG’s equity at about £47bn. It is a premium of about 50 per cent based on 90-day trading volumes.

BG recorded net debt of £8bn at its last results, putting a total enterprise value on the deal of almost £55bn.

Some Shell shareholders cautioned that by acquiring BG, Shell would be taking on some potentially troubled assets, particularly in Brazil and Australia, where projects have been hit by cost overruns and delays.

Matthew Beesley, head of global equities at Henderson Global Investors, which owns shares in Shell and BG, said: “Shell is taking on more risk and in issuing more shares and paying out cash to BG shareholders.

“As a result, their balance sheet will become more stretched. This potentially puts some strain on [Shell’s] dividend as they redirect cash flows to paying down debt ahead of growing the dividend.”

However, Michael Clark, portfolio manager of Fidelity MoneyBuilder Dividend Fund, a big investor in Shell and BG, stressed it was a good deal for both sets of shareholders. “There is no danger that Shell will change its dividend policy,” he said. Indeed, the company confirmed it would maintain its current payout of $1.88 per ordinary share in 2015 and pay “at least that amount” in 2016.

Since the price of crude began to slide last year, expectations have been high that the oil sector could see a repetition of the mergers and acquisitions fever that reconfigured the industry in the late 1990s — another period of low oil prices — that created the current crop of big oil companies such as BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil.

Some significant deals have already materialised since oil began to drop. Halliburton, the oil services group, recently bought rival Baker Hughes for $35bn and Repsol of Spain late last year acquired Talisman Energy of Canada for $8.3bn. Rex Tillerson, chief executive of ExxonMobil, said last month the company could be open to a large deal.

Mr van Beurden said the acquisition of BG would deliver a significant uplift in free cash flow, which would enable Shell to launch a $25bn share buyback programme in the 2017-20 time period. The combined company would also divest $30bn of assets over 2016-18. That comes on top of the $15bn worth of assets Shell disposed of in 2014.

Shell is paying a lot for BG, on the assumption of higher oil prices

The fact that the offer is in cash and shares, Mr van Beurden said, meant BG shareholders will remain exposed to the assets “and all the upside when oil prices go up again”.

Shell was advised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. BG was advised by Goldman Sachs and Robey Warshaw.

Mr van Beurden first broached the deal in a March 15 call to Andrew Gould, BG’s chairman, who used to be chief executive of oil services company Schlumberger. “I called [him] up and we had a very good and constructive discussion,” the Shell CEO said.

Combining with BG chimes in with Shell’s long-held focus on two business segments — “integrated gas”, which involves producing, processing and exporting natural gas, and deepwater oil and gas production. Mr van Beurden said the BG deal would be a “much enlarged version of what we did with Repsol”, the Spanish oil company that sold its LNG business to Shell in 2013.

Shell said it would pay down debt from 2016 when the deal is expected to become accretive to cash flow. It said it would be “mildly accretive” to earnings per share in 2017, and “strongly̶1; thereafter.

Mr van Beurden said the capital expenditure of both companies was $42bn in 2015, but “we will aim to get it below $40bn next year” and even less than that in 2017.

“With a much better defined set of options, we will be able to manage capital discipline with much higher precision,” he said. But he insisted that the combined company would continue to spend heavily in the UK North Sea, investing £4bn for growth in the 2016-18 time period.

Mr van Beurden acknowledged that Shell would face questions from competition authorities in Australia, Brazil, China and Brussels, but so far it had not identified any “insurmountable issues”. He said the company did not anticipate having to sell down assets for antitrust reasons.

The deal comes at a time when BG is recovering from a tumultuous few years marked by operational problems, profit warnings and management upheaval. Its long-serving chief executive Sir Frank Chapman was replaced in 2013 by Chris Finlayson who lasted only 16 months in the job. He was temporarily replaced by Mr Gould, until Helge Lund, former boss of Norwegian state oil major Statoil, took the helm in February. He will oversee the transition, and ”then will probably move along”, Mr Gould said.

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr Lund acknowledged he had “mixed emotions” about Shell’s bid. “I came to BG to turn it around,” he said. “I came to build a company, not to sell it.”


Key points of the deal

● Deal valued at £47bn, 52% premium to 90-day average price

● BG shareholders receive per share: 383p cash, 0.4454 Shell B shares

● BG shareholders to own 19% of combined company

● Adds 25% to Shell’s proved oil and gas reserves

● Adds 20% to its production

● Annual pre-tax savings of $2.5bn

● Dividend of $1.88 a share

● $25bn buyback 2017-20

● Seeking clearance from competition regulators in UK, EU, China, Brazil and Australia

● BG directors unanimously recommend the deal

● Deal expected to be completed early 2016

● Shell expects asset sales to total $30bn in 2016-18


Reporting by Claer Barrett, Guy Chazan, Arash Massoudi and David Oakley in London
BG Group share price data is direct from the London Stock Exchange