A fresh drop in in oil prices and political instability in Brazil is making investors miss out on about $5.5 billion in Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s pending takeover of BG Group Plc.
BG closed on Monday at 990.4 pence, about 9.5 percent below Shell’s cash-and-stock offer. The difference in share prices in the deal — the largest in the energy sector in at least a decade — is wider than the average for other global acquisitions bigger than $10 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The takeover has already won key regulatory approvals from the U.S., European Union and Brazil. Yet a plunge in oil prices and a deteriorating economy in Brazil, a key market for Shell, threaten to erode sentiment among shareholders who may be less inclined to support a merger that was announced when crude was higher. Even in such an environment, Shell will be motivated to close the deal in order to safeguard its dividend in the long run, said Mark Kelly of Olivetree Financial Ltd.
Brazil Energy Insight 
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