Royal Dutch Shell will buy BG Group for $69.7 billion

Oil and gas company Shell has agreed to buy British rival BG Group for 47 billion pounds ($69.7 billion), in a deal that may signal a new wave of mega-mergers as the energy industry tries to adapt to lower prices.

Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it will pay the equivalent of 13.67 pounds in cash and stock for each share of BG Group, 50 percent more than Tuesday’s closing price. The deal will boost Shell’s oil and gas reserves by 25 percent, including offshore projects in Australia and Brazil, and give it a bigger presence in the fast-growing liquefied natural gas market, Shell said.

Fed panel members split over timing of rate hike

Members of the Federal Reserve’s open market committee were divided at the mid-March meeting over whether to raise interest rates in June or whether to wait a bit longer, but they remained united in their expectations that they would raise rates gradually.

According to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday, several members expected economic data would justify an increase in interest rates in June, but others expected that the effects of low oil prices and the strong dollar would keep a lid on inflation and allow the central bank to wait longer before moving.

Two members said there would be no need for a “liftoff” until 2016.

– From staff and news services

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