By Kentaro Hamada and Chris Gallagher | TOKYO
Japanese oil refiner Idemitsu Kosan (5019.T) will again delay its planned purchase of Showa Shell Sekiyu (5002.T) shares from Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) because a review by the Japan Fair Trade Commission is still under way.
Idemitsu said in a statement on Monday it will postpone the purchase to either December or January, from its originally planned closure by this month. The delay is another setback for Idemitsu in its attempt to take over Showa Shell, delayed after stiff opposition from Idemitsu’s founding family.
Idemitsu’s management last month put a full takeover on hold indefinitely although it had planned to press ahead with a signed agreement to acquire a 33 percent of Showa Shell for about 170 billion yen ($1.6 billion) from Royal Dutch Shell.
The setbacks raise questions over whether the two firms will ever be able to combine businesses, given that the Idemitsu founding family, which owns just over a third of the company, could either block a full deal outright, or veto board decisions even if the deal itself was not blocked.
The family, led by 89-year-old patriarch Shosuke Idemitsu, has said the two companies are too different for any merger to work.
Idemitsu’s general manager of public relations, Soichi Kobayashi, said at a news conference on Monday that the Fair Trade Commission may be reviewing the matter carefully, but declined to comment on detailed exchanges with the regulator.
Kobayashi said Idemitsu was still experiencing difficulty in communications with the founding family. “We would continue to call for talks using various channels,” he said.
Idemitsu shares closed 1.1 percent higher on Monday, while Showa Shell’s rose 1.4 percent. The Nikkei 222 index rose 1.7 percent.
(Reporting by Kentaro Hamada and Chris Gallagher; Writing by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Kenneth Maxwell)
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.
