November 25, 2007
Edited by Louise Armitstead
IT’S panto season and Prufrock’s favourite Widow Twanky is back.
Frank Timis, the thrice-convicted former chairman of Regal Petroleum, has returned to scupper the fortunes of the company he founded – again.
With Timis’s reputation as one of the most unpredictable and irregular of company directors, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that he effected a boardroom coup moments after Regal announced a miraculous deal with Shell. Obviously, Shell then ran a mile.
The thoughts of Regal’s major shareholders, besides Timis, are less clear. I’ve discovered that some of London’s most respected fund managers – including Henderson, Merrill Lynch and Capital – not only approved of Timis’s latest shenani-gans, but actively helped him. Last week, Regal’s management were celebrating the unexpected approach from Shell. As one insider said: “If I’d said 18 months ago that Regal would return to respectability enough to attract a $1 billion [£485m] deal from Shell, you’d have said ‘rubbish’.”
On Wednesday, a lawyer arrived at Regal’s offices and demanded the removal of top management by request of 50% of shareholders.
A five-hour board meeting concluded that the institutions were indeed backing Timis, and the directors had no choice. The chief executive and chairman were fired and replaced by Timis’s chum David Greer.
So now what? Regal’s credibility is shot and it will be a while before any sensible bidder looks at the company, which will struggle for cash to develop its assets. Explain please.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article2935809.ece
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.
