Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. won support for its takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co. from Glass Lewis & Co. and RiskMetrics Group Inc., firms that advise institutional stockholders on how to vote their shares.

The price is “fair and reasonable for shareholders of both companies,” San Francisco-based Glass Lewis said in a report made public today. The all-stock deal, struck in September, originally valued Merrill at $50 billion in Bank of America stock. The amount has declined by about half since then because of a drop in the buyer’s shares.

An affirmative vote next month at a Bank of America shareholder meeting would remove one of the last obstacles for Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis’ plan to combine the largest U.S. home lender with the world’s biggest brokerage. He anticipates as much as $4 billion in after-tax savings, Glass Lewis said.

The decline in the purchase price and a “compelling strategic rationale” were cited by RiskMetrics in an e-mailed report advising shareholders to vote for the deal. Bank of America’s biggest shareholders are units of Barclays Plc and State Street Corp, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Glass Lewis also recommended that Merrill shareholders vote in favor of the combination. Merrill, based in New York, and Bank of America, in Charlotte, North Carolina, have scheduled separate votes in their respective hometowns on Dec. 5. Lewis said on Nov. 18 that he plans to complete the purchase by the end of the year.

Merrill advanced $3.19, or 38 percent, to $11.53, and Bank of America shares rose $3.12, or 27 percent, to $14.59 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The potential profit to Merrill shareholders, based on the value of the Bank of America offer, narrowed to 8.8 percent from 18 percent on Nov. 21.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zachary R. Mider in New York at zmider1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 24, 2008 19:33 EST