Bloomberg: Shell Decides Against Update on Governance Next Week (Update1)
Posted 17 Sept 04
Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe’s second-largest oil company, decided against updating investors next week on the progress of a review of corporate governance, saying it hasn’t ruled out any options.
Shell plans to announce the “preferred option” in November, Chairman Jeroen van der Veer told reporters in Vienna. Van der Veer said last month the company would update investors on Wednesday, when it releases its strategy review.
“Next week, we will concentrate on the strategy of the group,” Van der Veer said. “Even if you would like to say something (on the governance review) you can hardly say anything next week until you have made the selection.”
Van der Veer, 56, is trying to regain investors’ confidence after Shell said in January it had overstated proved oil and natural-gas reserves by a fifth. That led to an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the ouster of three top executives and the loss of Shell’s top-tier credit rating.
Investor calls for changes in Shell’s dual structure have increased since the reserve cuts, and Shell began a review in March. Shell Transport & Trading Co. of London and Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. of The Hague are run by separate boards, an arrangement dating from their 1907 merger.
Single Board
Moving to a single board of directors is the most popular option among investors, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in February. Shell, which is being advised by Citigroup Inc. and N.M. Rothschild, is studying issues such as tax implications of any changes in its structure, Van der Veer said.
“The art is really in the detail,” he said. “You have to keep all the horses in the race until the very last moment, just to make sure. And in the process, it takes some time.”
In July, Shell agreed to pay $150 million to settle SEC and U.K. Financial Services Authority investigations into the reserve cuts. Probes by the U.S. Justice Department, the Dutch securities regulator and the Euronext stock exchange are continuing.
Shell Transport shares in London were unchanged at 417 pence as of 10:40 a.m. The stock is up 0.4 percent this year, lagging the 13 percent gain at BP Plc, Europe’s largest oil company by market value.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Lawler in London at [email protected]
To contact the editors on this story:
Tim Coulter in London at [email protected]
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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.
