BP and Amoco concluded their mega-merger just three hours before the bells on New Year's Eve, thus creating the UK's biggest company and one of the largest oil concerns in the world.
By meeting the self-imposed end-of-the-year deadline, the two companies have set a new record of 100 working days for the
completion of a large merger.
The all-stock transaction, which results in a 60-40 equity split between BP and Amoco, creates a new company with a market capitalisation of more than #85bn.
Shares in the new group, BP Amoco, will join the FTSE-100 blue-chip index and begin trading in London at the opening of business on January 4. The company's American Depositary Shares begin trading on the New York, Pacific, Chicago and Toronto stock exchanges on the same day.
Trading of the shares in France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan will be introduced progressively during next week.
Having received approval from both sets of shareholders and the European Union, the companies cleared the last hurdle on Wednesday when the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said the deal could go ahead if certain conditions were met. These include the sale of 134 petrol stations and nine light petroleum terminals in the US, as well as clearing the way for 1600 independent US stations to switch gasoline brands if they so choose.
BP Amoco will be the world's third-largest oil company behind the proposed merger of Exxon and Mobile - which the FTC has only now begun to review - and Royal Dutch/Shell.
The #34bn merger has also prompted credit rating agency Moody's Investors Services to upgrade BP's long-term debt rating, assigning the combined
operation an Aa1 issuer rating.
Moody's said the upgrade reflected the new entity's status as one of the world's largest and most geographically diversified petroleum companies. It is expected to enjoy a stronger and more stable operational profile, with highly complementary assets in exploration and production, refining, distribution, marketing and chemicals.
Financially, Moody's said BP Amoco should be in a strengthened position to generate sizeable and relatively stable cash flows. There are also possibilities for considerable cost savings, assessed by BP to be at least #1.2bn per year.
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