Royal Dutch Shell on Monday sealed the $53 billion (36 billion pounds) acquisition of British rival, BG Group, to form the world’s top liquefied natural gas company.
In a statement in London, Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said with the deal, the company would now be able to shape a simpler, leaner and more competitive company.
Van Beurden said the company would focus on its core expertise in deep water and LNG.
The success or otherwise of the complex merger will define the legacy of van Beurden seeking to transform Shell into a more specialized group.
In 2014, Shell acquired Repsol’s LNG business.
Van Beurden’s vision won overwhelming support from shareholders though a number of major investors had voiced concerns that the forecast slow recovery in oil prices would strain Shell’s financials and risk its growth plans.
The deal, announced 10 months ago, creates a combined group which will leapfrog Chevron to become the world’s second-largest public oil and gas company by market value behind Exxon Mobil Corp.
BG shareholders largely opted to receive shares rather than cash under the proposed mix and match deal, according to a statement.
BG becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shell and will be headed by Dutchman Huibert Vigeveno, who has headed the integration planning team and will oversee its implementation.
Incumbent CEO Helge Lund, former head of Norwegian oil major Statoil, who led it through a period of spectacular growth, is set to step down and has yet to indicate his plans.
Shell has said it will cut thousands of jobs from the combined group and sell 30 billion dollars of assets over the next three years to finance the deal, buy back shares and support dividends.
Shell saw its income drop 87 per cent in 2015.
