October 25, 2006
SHELL is at the centre of buyout moves and merger speculation after unveiling plans to spend $C7.7 billion ($9 billion) simplifying its North American business.
This was seen by some as a step towards a £230 billion ($570 billion) mega-merger with BP.
The Anglo-Dutch oil group has also had its name linked with Premier Oil, although most industry experts rule out Shell being the unnamed company in takeover talks with the exploration firm.
Shell said on Monday it would buy the 22 per cent it did not own in Shell Canada, which is independently managed. It is quoted on the Toronto stock exchange and heavily involved with oil sands production in Alberta.
“We think the interests of the Shell Canada minority shareholders are well served by accepting the cash offer we are proposing,” said Jeroen van der Veer, Shell’s chief executive.
A Shell spokeswoman said the deal would speed up decision making and integrate the business into the Shell group.
“It naturally follows from the successful unification of the wider Royal Dutch Shell company in 2005 to a group with one chief executive and one headquarters,” she added.
Shell must still secure the support of its subsidiary’s board and more than half of the outstanding shares being tendered, but few industry experts expect opposition.
Equity analysts said the move was “good housekeeping” and may be one that could more easily be achieved by Shell before any possible tie-up with BP.
Earlier this year Britain’s biggest company acknowledged it had been looking at the idea of a merger as part of “scenario planning”. The spokeswoman declined to discuss the possibility of mergers with BP or Premier Oil.
Recently Wall Street analysts have issued research notes on the benefits to both sides of a tie-up, although they accept there would be big regulatory hurdles.
“A Shell-BP merger would make a lot of sense and would allow [the BP chief executive Lord] John Browne to leave his company on a high note [in 2008],” said Fadel Gheit, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co.
Mr Gheit issued a note last week saying Shell and BP could make annual savings of more than $US5 billion and significantly improve the new company’s operating efficiency. This would help it compete with ExxonMobil.
BP’s share price has risen by less than 6 per cent and Shell’s less than 8 per cent this year while ExxonMobil’s has soared by 24 per cent. Mr Gheit, unlike many of his fellow analysts, thinks regulatory clearance could be achieved without too many divestitures being demanded.
Premier Oil said Monday it had received a preliminary takeover offer, although it admitted talks were at an “extremely early stage”.
Premier’s shares rose 7 per cent but the group admitted “the proposal is subject to a number of conditions, including due diligence and financing”.
The reference to financing ruled out, in many minds, any suggestion that a company as big as Shell was involved.
The Guardian
Terry Macalister
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.
