IN THE NEWS / Amoco Corp Shareholders, EU Approve British Petoleum Merger
CHICAGO - The merger of Amoco Corp. and British Petroleum Co. Plc cleared two hurdles on Thursday, leaving only one obstacle on the path to becoming the world's third-largest oil company.
Amoco shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal at a special meeting in Chicago while across the Atlantic, the European Commission's competition committee also approved the merger, valued at about $49 billion when it was announced Aug. 11.
The merger now must obtain approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, widely considered by many to be the most challenging hurdle it must clear.
Amoco's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer H. Laurance Fuller announced Thursday that the European Commission had cleared the deal at the shareholder meeting. He said the European Union would be formally announcing its approval on Friday.
"They (the European Commission) haven't published the opinion, but my understanding is there weren't any conditions to it (approval)," he told reporters after the meeting.
The new company, which will be known as BP Amoco Plc, will be based in London. It will be the largest company in Britain. BP Amoco would rank third among the world's publicly traded oil companies -- behind top ranked Exxon Corp. of the U.S., which announced plans on Dec. 1 to merge with Mobil Corp. to create the world's largest publicly traded company, and, in second place, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell Group .
Amoco said 98 percent of the shareholders' votes cast were in favor of the merger, which the two companies still aim to close by the end of the year.
BP shareholders approved the deal on November 25.
The merger has sparked concern about its impact on retail gasoline prices in the U.S., where the companies own competing gasoline stations in some areas.
The Federal Trade Commission has already made a second request for more information. Second requests occur in only about 5 percent of pending merger reviews, the FTC has said.
Amoco has already agreed to sell 12 petroleum product storage terminals to The Williams Cos. Inc. , an energy and communications company based in Tulsa, Okla., in a deal stemming from the proposed merger.
On Thursday, Amoco's stock fell 50 cents to $57.00 a share, in composite New York Stock Exchange trading. British Petroleum's American Depositary Receipts traded on the NYSE dropped 18.75 cents to $88.25 on Thursday.
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