Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission on Friday approved BlackRock's ( BLK ) $12.5 billion deal for

Global Infrastructure Partners.

Under the deal, which was announced earlier this year,

BlackRock ( BLK ) said it would pay $3 billion in cash and

roughly 12 million BlackRock ( BLK ) shares to acquire the asset

management giant.

BlackRock ( BLK ) and Global Infrastructure Partners declined to

comment.

Last year, a member of the U.S. energy regulator called for

scrutiny of top asset managers' ownership of power utilities, as

the oversight body began a review.

Commissioner Mark Christie said the commission had to "apply

strict scrutiny when a huge asset manager like Vanguard or State

Street or BlackRock ( BLK ) is buying a big chunk of either the

(utility) company itself or its holding company."

Global Infrastructure Partners is an infrastructure investor

that specializes in investing, owning and operating assets in

the energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and water and

waste management sectors.