Shareholders of SK Innovation and its energy affiliate SK E&S approved a merger of the two companies on Tuesday, signaling the birth of an energy giant in South Korea with combined assets worth 100 trillion won, or around 75 billion U.S. dollars.

SK Innovation announced that the merger plan, in which a corporate body is set to launch on November 1, was approved with support from 85-point-75 percent of its shareholders with an attendance rate of 62-point-76 percent. Shareholders of SK E&S also approved the plan.

The plan was greenlit despite the National Pension Service, SK Innovation's second-largest shareholder, voting against the merger over concern that it could undermine shareholder value.
 
The merger, which comes 25 years after the two entities separated in 1999, is part of SK Group's restructuring efforts to streamline its affiliates amid lingering uncertainties both at home and abroad.

The merged company is expected to become the largest private energy firm in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of assets, and the ninth biggest when including state energy companies.