Reuters Staff: NOVEMBER 13, 2017
LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell is selling part of its stake in Australia’s largest independent oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, to equity investors for about $1.7 billion.
Shell, which has been slowly divesting its Woodside holding, said on Monday its Shell Energy Holdings Australia Limited (SEHAL) unit had struck a deal with two investment banks over the sale of 71.6 million Woodside shares for A$31.10 ($23.79) apiece.
The oil major said that represented 64 percent of its interest in Woodside and 8.5 percent of the issued capital in Woodside.
The announcement came after the close of trade on the Australian bourse, where Woodside ended 1 percent lower at A$32.24 a share.
Upon completion of the sale, SEHAL will own a 4.8 percent interest in Woodside.
Shell has so far sold or agreed to sell over $26 billion as part of a three-year, $30 billion asset sales program launched following the acquisition of BG Group in 2015.
“Proceeds from the sale will contribute to reducing our net debt,” Shell’s Chief Financial Officer, Jessica Uhl, said in a statement.
Equity capital markets teams from a number of international banks had been asked earlier on Monday to submit bids and lock in cornerstone investors, a banking source requesting anonymity told Reuters.
Shell said it had agreed not to dispose of any of its remaining shares in Woodside for a minimum of 90 days from completion of the latest sale.
Even before Shell set out to sell assets, it was distancing itself from Woodside.
In November 2010, it sold 10 percent of the issued capital of Woodside, taking its stake to 24.27 percent. This was further diluted to 23.08 percent after Shell decided not to participate in Woodside’s dividend re-investment program.
In June 2014, Shell sold another 9.5 percent of Woodside’s issued shares, dropping its interest to 13.28 percent after again opting out of the dividend reinvestment scheme.
Australia blocked a takeover bid by Shell for Woodside in 2001 on national interest grounds.
Shell will remain joint venture partner in two liquefied natural gas projects in Australia, according to Woodside.
“Woodside will maintain a close working relationship with Shell – as a joint venture partner and customer of Shell technology – and we recognize that Shell will always be part of our history,” Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said in a statement.
($1 = 1.3074 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Radhika Rukmangadhan in Bengaluru, Ron Bousso in London and James Regan in Sydney; Editing by Mark Potter
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
