CITYA.M. 

Activist investor prepares to take on Shell over climate targets

NICHOLAS EARL: THURSDAY 12 MAY 2022

Shell is preparing for a shareholder showdown at its upcoming general meeting later this month, with activist group Follow This pushing the energy giant to commit to more stringent environmental targets.

It has warned shareholders that Shell’s current transition plans are not aligned with the Paris Agreement, and has filed a motion – resolution 21 – calling for the oil and gas major to publish targets that cover short, medium and long term emissions in both its operations and the use of its energy products. read more

Bloomberg

Loeb’s Third Point Adds to Shell Position: The London Rush

Bloomberg News: Charles Capel and Leonard Kehnscherper: May 09, 2022(Bloomberg)

EXTRACT

Third Point Investors Ltd: Dan Loeb’s flagship Offshore Fund returned -11.5% in the first quarter of 2022, dragged down by companies including  Rivian Automotive, Inc and Cie Financiere Richemont SA.  

The investment company said its stake in Shell Plc helped mitigate some of its losses, and it has found interesting new investments in oil and natural gas companies, as well as other companies that might benefit from inflation, supply shortages, and the energy transition read more

CITYA.M.

Dan Loeb adds to Shell stake despite doubling down on break-up calls

CHARLIE CONCHIE: SUNDAY 08 MAY 2022 12:29 PM

Activist investor Daniel Loeb has revealed he has added to his stake in energy giant Shell despite doubling down on calls for a shake-up to the energy major’s corporate structure.

Loeb, who revealed in October that his hedge fund Third Point had taken $750m stake in Shell, told his investors last week that he had upped his stake in the firm and had held discussions with the firm’s bosses. read more

Bloomberg

Activist Investor Dan Loeb Increases Shell Stake, Reuters Reports

Rachel Morison: Sat, May 7, 2022, 5:18 PM·

(Bloomberg) — Dan Loeb’s Third Point LLC has increased its $750 million stake in the energy giant Shell Plc as the investor seeks to pressure the company to split up its businesses, Reuters reported.

Loeb has held discussions with Shell’s management, board members and other shareholders, according to a letter sent to Third Point investors and seen by Reuters.

The letter described the company’s stock price as cheap but said there could be gains ahead with “proper management,” according to Reuters. read more

Reuters

Third Point’s Loeb praises Shell moves, sticks by calls for breakup

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, May 7 (Reuters) – Activist investor Daniel Loeb, who wants Royal Dutch Shell Plc to break apart, applauded the energy giant’s decision to move its headquarters even as he sticks to views that a different corporate structure would make it more successful.

Loeb, who said in October that his hedge fund Third Point LLC had taken a $750 million stake in the company, told his own investors on Friday that he has added to his Shell stake and has held discussions with management, board members and other shareholders. read more

By John Donovan

Following the airing of a Channel 4 TV documentary Joe Lycett vs the Oil Giant on 24th October 2021, seismic changes have taken place at Royal Dutch Shell. 

Based on the timing of the chain of events, it appears that the documentary may have contributed to the decision to bring a sudden end to the oil giant in its Anglo-Dutch form, under which it operated for over a hundred years. 

Joe’s controversial impersonation of Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden including Ben shown literally talking shit about the green energy transition was cringe-making but made an impact. read more

REUTERS

Dan Loeb swats away activist with heavy hand

December 2, 202112:35 PM GMT

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Dan Loeb, the billionaire activist calling for change at Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), has fended off his own mini-revolt.

Shareholders in Third Point Investors (TPOGu.L), a UK-listed trust that owns a stake in Loeb’s main fund, roundly rejected a move by uppity shareholder Asset Value Investors to throw a Third Point employee, Josh Targoff, off the board.

Loeb’s victory is clear. Votes against the proposal numbered 30 million, versus just 9 million for it. read more

Allegations and Litigation Relating to Spymasters in Shell’s Corporate Security Department

By John Donovan

See below a self-explanatory email I sent yesterday to named senior executives at Shell.

It mentions the current momentous events at Royal Dutch Shell, although that is not the subject of the email. In that connection, I have not spotted any reference in current news coverage to the Dutch police raid at Shell’s current HQ in The Hague.

That astonishing development may have fuelled a growing feeling that the Dutch government has turned anti-Shell by allowing Nigerian and climate change litigation against Shell to proceed in the Dutch courts and tightening up Dutch tax regulations affecting Shell. read more

FORTUNE

Shell’s decision to leave the Netherlands is about keeping investors on its side in difficult times

BY KATHERINE DUNN: November 16, 2021 4:58 PM GMT

The Dutch government is scrambling to find a way to make Royal Dutch Shell remain royal and Dutch after the oil and gas giant announced Monday that it had decided to up sticks from its home in the Hague and move its headquarters to London.

The Dutch government’s eagerness to retain the giant firm is not surprising—and exactly how Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his cabinet are trying to do so says a lot about which of Shell’s stated reasons for moving is the most important one. read more

FINANCIAL TIMES

Dutch government rushes to keep Shell in Netherlands

Mehreen Khan in Brussels and Tom Wilson in London

The Dutch government has launched an eleventh-hour attempt to keep Shell in the Netherlands by seeking to abolish a controversial dividend tax cited by the energy group as a reason to unify its share structure and move its headquarters to the UK. Officials from the Dutch government told the Financial Times that the caretaker government of Mark Rutte was seeking to find a last-minute parliamentary majority to scrap a 15 per cent withholding tax that has long been a source of complaint for Shell and fellow Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever. The political machinations come hours after Shell announced it would end its dual-share structure… read more

Minister hails ‘vote of confidence’ for Brexit Britain as Shell moves its HQ to London from the Netherlands and plans to scrap ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name

• Kwasi Kwarteng said decision – subject to a vote – would ‘create jobs’ in Britain
• Board meetings and senior executives will move to London in boost for capital 
• Decision follows lawsuit by climate activists to force Shell to slash emissions 

By RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 11:30, 15 November 2021 | UPDATED: 12:26, 15 November 2021

Oil giant Shell today announced it will move its headquarters and tax residence to the UK and drop ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name for the first time in 130 years.

The decision was hailed as a ‘clear vote of confidence in the British economy that will ‘create jobs’ by business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. The firm pays hundreds of millions of pounds worth of taxes every year, which will now go to the Treasury. read more

The Washington Post

Shell wants to move headquarters amid cleaner energy shift

By Associated Press: Today at 6:58 a.m. EST LONDON — Royal Dutch Shell proposed moving its headquarters from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and streamlining its structure Monday in hopes of making it easier to move forward in a world transitioning away from a dependence on fossil fuels.

The company, which has been incorporated in the U.K. with Dutch tax residency and dual class shares since 2005, said it wanted to move to a more conventional structure to be able to make the company more competitive as it seeks to meet the challenges of shifting toward cleaner energy.

Dutch officials said they were “unpleasantly surprised” by the move.

“The government deeply regrets that Shell wants to move its head office to the United Kingdom,” Dutch Economic Affairs and Climate Minister Stef Blok said. “We are in talks with the top of Shell about the implications of this move for jobs, critical investment decisions and sustainability.” read more

The New York Times

Shell Proposes Shift to Britain, Dropping ‘Royal Dutch’ From Name

The restructuring is meant to make the company more appealing to investors and make it easier to sell assets, the oil giant said.

By Stanley Reed: Nov. 15, 2021, 6:02 a.m. ET

Shell, Europe’s largest energy company, said Monday that it was proposing to move its headquarters to Britain from the Netherlands and make major changes in its share ownership and tax status.

The moves are designed to make the company, whose share price has lagged rivals, more appealing to investors, and they come less than a month after an activist investor, Daniel Loeb, suggested changes to the company’s structure. They are likely to be seen as a blow to the Netherlands, where Shell has an enormous presence, and a windfall for the British government as it struggles to demonstrate that Brexit can provide an economic boost. read more

REUTERS

Shell’s Dutch exit comes with legal side benefits

15 Nov 2021: By George Hay

Shifting its tax residency to the UK, along with its head office and CEO, simplifies the $170 bln oil major’s structure. It also makes it easier to reorganise for the energy transition. The implied snub to the Dutch court which ordered Shell to cut emissions is an added bonus.

Royal Dutch Shell said on Nov. 15 it would seek shareholder approval to change its corporate structure in order to unify its two classes of shares. The company will also shift its tax residence to the United Kingdom.Shell is currently incorporated in the UK but has Dutch tax residence and a dual-class share structure. It adopted that approach in 2005 after combining Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij and The Shell Transport and Trading Company under a single parent company.

Shell said a unified share structure would allow it to compete more effectively by allowing for an acceleration of share buybacks, as there will be a larger single pool of ordinary shares that can be bought back. read more

MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2021 8:37 AM

Shell to ditch ‘Royal Dutch’ name and dual-share structure amid activist pressure

NICHOLAS EARL

Nicholas Earl is a sports and business contributor.

Royal Dutch Shell will dump its dual-share structure, change its name, and move its tax residence from the Netherlands to the UK.

The oil group argues the moves will boost its competitiveness.

It will now offer a single line of shares, which it considers simpler for investors to understand and value.

Alongside moving its tax residence, Shell will establish its CEO, CFO and board meetings in the country. read more

The Telegraph

Shell to move headquarters from Netherlands to UK

Firm says unified structure will help to ‘accelerate switch to net zero’

By Matt Oliver 15 November 2021 • 7:57am

Royal Dutch Shell has unveiled plans to move its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK.

The Anglo-Dutch energy giant said the move to abandon its current dual structure would make it nimbler as it moves away from oil and gas and towards greener sources of power.

The move comes as Shell is facing pressure from Third Point, an activist investor run by Wall Street billionaire Dan Loeb. read more