By: Danny Fortson – The Sunday Times
The Australian investment giant nicknamed the “vampire kangaroo” is hoping to sink its teeth into Ireland’s £3bn Corrib gas field.
Macquarie, one of the largest owners of British infrastructure, is understood to have approached Shell over a deal that could value the FTSE 100 giant’s 45% stake in the project at more than £1bn. It is unclear whether the Australians have tabled a formal bid.
Corrib started producing a year ago after years of delays and protests from fishermen, environmentalists and locals.
The project, located 50 miles off the northwest coast of Ireland, involved laying miles of pipe that feed into the national gas network. It was the subject of a 2010 documentary called The Pipe. At full capacity, Corrib could provide over half of Ireland’s gas needs.
Shell is understood to have put its stake up for auction as part of the $30bn (£23.5bn) asset sale programme launched last year. The energy giant is paying down debt it took on to fund the blockbuster takeover of rival BG.
One complication from the deal would be who would run the field if Shell, the current operator, sells out. The other owners are Statoil, Norway’s state oil giant, and Vermillion Energy Trust of Canada.
The field began pumping gas at the end of last year, which has made it attractive to Macquarie. The Sydney-based giant specialises in infrastructure investment, with stakes in the M6 toll road and Thames Water, Britain’s biggest water utility. The company’s investment funds often use large amounts of debt, sometimes from finance vehicles they control, to fund its purchases.
Because interest is tax-deductible, Macquarie can minimise the cash it pays to the exchequer. Its skill at maximising returns while minimising tax has led critics to dub it the “vampire kangaroo” — a play on Goldman Sachs’s “vampire squid” moniker.
Macquarie and Shell both declined to comment.
Posted Date: 4 December 2016
Link:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/business/macquarie-eyes-irish-gas-gian…
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
