Mumbai, Mar 2 : The board of directors of Reliance Industries headed by Mukesh Ambani on Monday agreed to merge with its refinery subsidiary, the Reliance Petroleum Ltd. (RPL).

Both the companies, in their respective filings, agreed on one equity share for the RPL shareholders and 16 for the RIL shareholders.

This development has resulted in formation of one of the largest refineries in the world.

The merger, which would take effect from April 1, 2009, would also make the RIL one of the top 50 companies in the world on profitability basis.

The RIL had earlier announced to buy five per cent stake in Chevron Energy after the latter decided to quit the RPL.

The RIL had bought 22.50 crore equity shares, which was five percent of RPL''s equity from Chevron. This would raise its stake in the company to 75.38 percent. (ANI)