Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan Co (5019.T) will acquire one-third of Showa Shell (5002.T) by the end of the year, and the anti-monopoly watchdog is expected to approve their merger proposal as early as next week, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.
Idemitsu will go ahead with an agreement to acquire the 33.24 percent stake in Showa Shell for about 170 billion yen ($1.44 billion) from Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) after getting the approval, the report said, without citing sources.
The planned merger has been a drawn-out process, with fierce opposition coming from Idemitsu’s founding family. The management of Idemitsu, Japan’s second-biggest refiner by sales, in October put a full takeover on hold indefinitely.
Idemitsu’s management has argued that a merger is the best course of action in a shrinking domestic oil market, where five large and three small refiners compete.
But descendants of founder Sazo Idemitsu, including octogenarian son Shosuke Idemitsu, now honorary chairman, have said the businesses are too different for a merger to work.
Another merger in the domestic refining sector, involving JX Holdings Inc’s (5020.T) planned acquisition of TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK (5012.T), is under way.
Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is also expected to approve that merger as early as next week, the Nikkei report said.
Pressure to consolidate, both within the refining industry and from the government, has been high as Japan’s gasoline demand declines due to a shrinking population.
($1 = 117.9800 yen)
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori and Thomas Wilson; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
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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.
