Posts under ‘Netherlands’

CITI A.M.

Shell holds talks with investors to push through London HQ move

BY: NICHOLAS EARL: TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2021 4:28 PM

Royal Dutch Shell is looking to persuade investors to back its plan to relocate the company’s headquarters from the Netherlands to UK.

The oil giant’s management team has set up more than 100 meetings with leading investors in recent days to push through historic company, sources told Reuters.

Shell announced earlier this month they would scrap dual Anglo-Dutch share structure, move to London from The Hague, and ditch the Royal Dutch branding after 114 years of holding the name. read more

Express.co.uk

Brexit success: Shell headquarter move shows Remoaner predictions are ‘other way around’

OIL giant Shell is relocating its headquarters from the Netherlands to the UK, a move some are labelling as proof that Brexit is not synonymous with losing foreign business.

By TERESA GOTTEIN MARTINEZ

Sat, Nov 20, 2021 

Shell has this week announced it was ready to sacrifice the designation “Royal” — from Royal Dutch Shell — to shift its tax residency from the EU to the UK. It already chose the country as its corporate base and primary stock market listing in 2005 but now, “despite Brexit“, the British-Dutch multinational will call London its only home. read more

Brinkwire

Shell’s move to a new headquarters in London demonstrates that Remoaner predictions are ‘wrong’.

BY HELENA SUTAN ON NOVEMBER 20, 2021

Shell’s move to a new headquarters demonstrates that Remoaner predictions are ‘wrong’.

Shell, the world’s largest oil company, is relocating its headquarters from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, a move that some see as proof that Brexit does not imply a loss of international business.

Shell announced this week that it was willing to forego the designation “Royal” — from Royal Dutch Shell — in order to move its tax residency from the EU to the UK. The British-Dutch multinational had already chosen the country as its corporate base and primary stock market listing in 2005, but now it will call London its only home “despite Brexit.” read more

Seeking Alpha

Shell Jumps Out Of Fire And Lands In The Frying Pan

Zoltan Ban: Nov. 19, 2021

• Shell’s move to exit the Dutch tax and legal jurisdiction is officially presented as an issue of dividend taxation that Shell and others hoped for years to see it repealed.
• Though it is not much discussed by Shell or the media, the harsh environmental ruling by a Dutch court that forces Shell to cut emissions may have played a role.
• Even though Shell is not currently faced with similar legal pressures in the UK, it may nevertheless feel other pressures to cut emissions by a similar margin.
• Shell’s upstream segment is the most likely part of the business that will be sacrificed to environmental pressures.
• Shell will most likely try to adapt its LNG and petrochemicals sector to lower emissions, that will make it less profitable. Higher natural gas prices will add to profitability concerns.

Investment thesis: Shell (RDS.A), (RDS.B) is leaving the Dutch legal jurisdiction, officially due to some dividend tax issues and it will make the UK its sole home base. Unofficially, it may be in large part a way to escape a court-imposed emissions reduction demand on its business activities. While the move to escape a legally binding cut of 45% compared with 2020 levels by 2030 is potentially avoided through this move, the internal, as well as external pressures for it to cut emissions, hydrocarbons production, and so on, will not cease. read more

The National

Shell plans to open new hydrogen refuelling sites in Europe, China and the US

Hydrogen sales at every site have ‘doubled’ year-on-year on the back of higher demand from cars and lorries, a senior company executive says

Fareed Rahman: Nov 19, 2021 Global energy giant Shell plans to open a number of hydrogen refuelling sites in Europe, the US and China as demand for clean fuel increases amid growing concern on climate change.

The company is building hydrogen refuelling sites in China, Netherlands, Germany and in California, Paul Bogers, vice president for Hydrogen at Shell, told The National in an interview on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference. read more

The Times

Shell wins backing for its planned UK switch

Emily Gosden, Energy Editor: Friday November 19 2021, The Times

Plans by Royal Dutch Shell to unify its dual-share structure and move its headquarters and tax base from the Netherlands to Britain have won the backing of an influential shareholder advisory group.

Glass Lewis recommended that investors back the proposed changes to Shell’s articles of association in a vote on December 10 that also would lead to the oil company losing “Royal Dutch” from its name.

The plans have the backing, too, of CalSTRS, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, America’s second largest public pension fund with more than $320 billion under management. It took a leading role in forcing board changes at ExxonMobil, the American oil major, this year. read more

‘Desperate’ Dutch PM blasted as he scrambles to stop Shell’s move to UK

DUTCH Prime Minister Mark Rutte suffered a brutal attack after his government attempted to convince Royal Dutch Shell not to leave the Netherlands for the UK.

By ALESSANDRA SCOTTO DI SANTOLO Wed, Nov 17, 2021  Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would scrap its dual share structure and move its head office to Brexit Britain from the Netherlands, pushed away by Dutch taxes and facing climate pressure in court as the energy giant shifts from oil and gas. The company, which long faced questions from investors about its dual structure and had recently been hit by a Dutch court order over its climate targets, aims to drop “Royal Dutch” from its name – part of its identity since 1907 – to become Shell Plc.

The firm has been in a long-running tussle with the Dutch authorities over the country’s 15 percent dividend withholding tax on some of its shares, making them less attractive for international investors.

Shell introduced the two-class share structure in 2005 after a previous corporate overhaul. read more

Bloomberg

Dutch Divorce: How Shell Split With Netherlands After 114 Years

Laura Hurst, Diederik Baazil and Fred Pals: Wed, November 17, 2021, 8:10 AM

(Bloomberg) — A twenty-minute stroll through The Hague — the pretty but low-key city that houses The Netherlands’ government — takes you from the prime minister’s office to the workplace of someone who’s arguably even more powerful: the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

But when Ben van Beurden, who’s worked at Shell since he graduated from nearby Delft University in 1983, called Mark Rutte on Sunday afternoon, the conversation was anything but close. He rang to tell the PM that Europe’s biggest oil company was moving its headquarters to London, a step that would simplify its corporate structure and cut taxes for investors. 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

POLITICO

Dutch fury, British joy as Shell relocates to UK

Government in The Hague says it is ‘unpleasantly surprised’ by the move.

BY THIBAULT SPIRLET: November 15, 2021 4:19 pm Royal Dutch Shell will move its headquarters and tax residence from the Netherlands to the U.K. in a decision that sparked outrage in The Hague and jubilation in London.

The Dutch government said it was “unpleasantly surprised” by the announcement. “We are in talks with the head of Shell about the consequences of this decision for jobs, crucial investments, and sustainability,” said Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Stef Blok.

It was a different story in London, where U.K. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng welcomed the news: “A clear vote of confidence in the British economy… ” 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 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

London Evening Standard

Shell shares rise as FTSE 100 energy giant moves corporate HQ to London

Shift may reduce pressure over The Hague court ruling on emissions targets

By Simon Freeman: 15 November 2021

ROYAL DUTCH Shell will lose its regal title under proposals to tilt the FTSE 100 oil giant’s centre of gravity from the Netherlands to London. CEO Ben van Beurden (right), CFO Jessica Uhl and seven other senior executives will relocate to the capital full-time in what the £130 billion super-major called a “simplification” of its structure. 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

What are the next steps and approvals that are required?

Changes in the articles are required to move the CEO, CFO, Board and Executive Committee meetings to the UK, which would result in aligning the tax residence and the Company’s country of incorporation in the UK. This is because the current Articles require the Company’s headquarters and certain meetings, including Board meetings, the AGM and other general meetings, to be located in the Netherlands.

The Resolution requires the approval of at least 75 percent of the votes cast (in person or by proxy) at the General Meeting to be passed. read more

Why is Royal Dutch Shell changing its name?

Notwithstanding Shell’s continued and significant presence in the Netherlands, we expect that the Company will no longer meet the conditions for using the honorary Royal designation. Carrying the designation has been a source of immense pride and honour for more than 130 years but, after very careful consideration and subject to Shareholder approval of the Resolution, the Board intends to change the Company’s name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc. read more