Mark Leftly: Sunday 24 June 2012
Royal Dutch Shell is expected to turn up the heat in its battle for Cove Energy, the Mozambique-focused gas explorer that has generated huge interest among the supermajors.
Cove shareholders have until Wednesday to accept Shell’s 220p-a-share bid, which was tabled in April but has since been trumped by an offer of 240p, or £1.2bn, from Thailand’s PTT Exploration & Production. Shell has already extended its offer once, but can do so again as an absolute deadline cannot be enforced until mid-July.
The FTSE 100 stalwart has had only a handful of acceptances, so will have to up its offer if it wants to wrest the Aim-listed group from PTT. Shareholders have been slow to accept either offer as they hope the groups will push each other to something closer to £1.4bn.
East Africa is seen as energy’s next great play, and Cove has an 8.5 per cent stake in a block off Mozambique’s coast that would open the area to the successful bidder.
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.
