THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MAY 12, 2009, 7:22 A.M. ET
(Adds details of asset sale plan)
WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)–Shell New Zealand Ltd., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Group (RD), has appointed UBS AG to help it sell the bulk of its downstream assets in the country, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
UBS will start calling for expressions of interest in the next two weeks, and the outcome of the sale process will probably be known within three to four months, Jackie Maitland, manager for communications at Shell NZ told Dow Jones Newswires.
“We are taking the review forward with the appointment of UBS. No buyer has been identified, and we are some months away from knowing if the sale proceeds,” she said.
Shell New Zealand late last year said it was conducting a review of its downstream business as part of a strategic review of its global businesses.
All of the downstream businesses, with the exception of its 36% stake in construction and roadworks company Fulton Hogan, will be put up for sale, Maitland said. The book value of the assets on sale wasn’t disclosed, but Maitland said the combined revenue of Shell’s downstream businesses totaled NZ$2.9 billion in 2007.
The company’s downstream assets include 230 fuel stations, a marine business, commercial fuel and aviation operations, a 17% stake in New Zealand Refining Co. (NZR.NZ) and a 25% stake in Loyalty NZ.
Its distribution network, part of the downstream businesses, includes terminal facilities throughout New Zealand.
Maitland said Shell, which accounts for more than 50% of New Zealand’s natural gas production and a big proportion of the country’s oil production, won’t sell its upstream businesses.
The upstream businesses comprise a 50% stake in the Kapuni field, an 84% stake in Maui gas field and a 48% stake in Pohokura field – all of them located in the country’s North Island.
-By Shri Navaratnam, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; [email protected]
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.
