Despite denials from Regal yesterday that it had received an approach, some shareholders are convinced that the company is in play.
Regal shares closed up 50pc at 125p on reports that Anglo-Dutch Shell was considering a bid that would value the company at about 300p a share. Regal’s key assets are in Ukraine, where Shell has said that it would like to expand.
Shell targeted Regal last year when it unsuccessfully tried to strike a joint venture agreement by paying £200m for half the Ukraine assets. “Shell is an excellent strategic fit, and I’m not surprised they are said to have returned to sound out Regal,” said one investor. “Everyone knows Regal is undervalued because of all the baggage it carries.”
Regal almost went bust in 2005, after raising money to fund a fruitless exploration project in Greece.
However, Regal said yesterday that reports Shell had made a proposal were untrue. Earlier in the week a director of Regal admitted that a number of parties were interested in the company, including an “Ivy League” player.
Another investor told The Daily Telegraph yesterday that “we are convinced” that Shell has made an approach.
“It’s all a bit of mystery. The watchwords are ‘be wary’.”
A Shell spokesman declined to comment.
Oil be back – crude prices rebound
Oil prices rebounded from steep declines on Thursday as investors correctly predicted the approval of the $700bn US bail-out package in the House of Representatives.
There was also more optimism on Wall Street as Wells Fargo stepped in to buy Wachovia for $15.1bn. Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose 72 to $94.69 a barrel in New York. In London, November Brent crude rose 49 cents to $91.05 a barrel, having earlier fallen below the psychological $90 mark.
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.
