Shell: More than 80% of shareholders vote in favour of proposed £35bn BG takeover

Royal Dutch Shell has edged closer to completed its proposed £35bn (€46bn, $50bn) takeover of sector peer BG Group after the oil giant shareholders gave the green light to the proposal on 27 January.

The investors, which represent 83.1% of the oil giant's issued share capital, gave their approval to the merger, which was first agreed by the two firms on April 2015, after meeting earlier in the day in the Hague, Netherlands.

Shareholders in the Anglo-Dutch company were asked to vote on the deal, which has become under intense scrutiny following the sharp decline that has seen oil prices plunge to below $30 a barrel earlier in January.

Investors representing almost 17% of the company expressed their disapproval but group chief executive Ben van Beurden said the FTSE 100 group would benefit from taking over its sector peer, which has natural gas assets in Australia and Brazil.

He said: "I am delighted with the positive shareholder vote and the confidence that shareholders have shown in the strategic logic of the combination of Shell and BG."