U.S. antitrust authorities said on Wednesday they had approved Marathon Oil Corp.'s proposal to buy Ashland Inc.'s stake in their refining and marketing joint venture, Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC.
Officials have closed their investigation of the deal without taking action, the Federal Trade Commission said in a notice.
When they announced the deal in March, the companies said Marathon would pay about $3 billion in cash and stock for Ashland's 38 percent stake in the joint venture.
Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Ashland Petroleum is the No. 5 U.S. oil refiner, operating seven refineries with total capacity of 948,000 barrels of oil a day, interstate pipelines, and 6,000 service stations and truck stops. Marathon Ashland generated operating income of $770 million last year.
Under the two-step transaction, Houston-based oil company Marathon would pay $315 million in stock and transfer $794 million of Marathon cash and accounts receivable to Ashland, a Covington, Kentucky, chemicals, refining and transportation construction company.
Marathon would also hand over $1.9 billion raised in a debt offering, for a total payment of $2.7 billion in cash and receivables, the companies have said.