By Paul Betts
Published: June 1 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 1 2007 03:00
Britain and the Netherlands have always had long and fruitful business relations. These have spawned such multinationals as Royal Dutch Shell, Unilever, Reed Elsevier and the Corus steel group now under Indian ownership. Yet France now seems to be steadily encroaching on this traditional Anglo-Dutch connection. With some remarkable results, if recent Franco-Dutch mergers in the property sector and the airline business are anything to go by. As a measure of this success, both Unibail and Air France-KLM are now set to make their entry later this month in the Paris CAC40 blue chip stock index.
Unibail will become the first property company to be included in the leading French index following its acquisition of the Dutch Rodamco group. Not only has the deal propelled it to the top of the European property league but driven its share price up by nearly 60 per cent in the last 12 months.
The performance of Air France-KLM has been even more impressive. The airline’s shares have gained more than 125 per cent during the past 12 months. The carrier has also reported record profits as it continues to reap the benefits of one of the rare successful mergers in the airline business.
British Airways must be kicking itself. The UK carrier, now considering bidding for Spain’s Iberia in partnership with private equity groups, squandered two opportunities to merge with KLM.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
