Royal Dutch Shell to lose its title as its moves corporate HQ to London
Royal Dutch Shell plc commonly known as Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company proposes to tilt the FTSE 100 oil giants centre of gravity from Netherlands to London and cross the North Sea. Shell is one of the oil and gas “supermajors” and measured by 2020 revenues, ranked by Forbes Global 2000, as the 21st-largest public company in the world and the fifth-largest based in Europe and is the largest company overall which is not based in either China or the United States.
Under new proposals The Royal Dutch Shell will lose its Royal title and become plain shell. as it changes its headquarters to London from Netherlands. Ben Van Beurden CEO , Jessica Uld, CFO, and seven other senior executives will relocate to London full-time, in what the £130 billion super major called “simplification” of their company structure. Shell’s confusing dual class shares will be merged to one to free up more liquidity as it presses ahead of with a $7 billion buyback. Shell’s corporate headquarters and tax residence will shift to UK where all board and high level meetings will be held. According to analysts the move will lead to a one off demand for exit tax of up to £400 million from Dutch authorities. The firm will still be listed in Amsterdam, London and New York, but will no longer meet the criteria to use the “Royal Dutch” designation. According to the company the royal association had been a source of immense pride for over 130 years. The separation from the Netherlands will also ease the pressure from a legal ruling at the Hague ordering Shell to cut its carbon footprint more quickly and slash scope3 emissions released when fuel is burned by customers by 45 per cent by 2030.
A month after the company came under attack from activist Daniel Loeb’s Third Point which is calling for its legacy fossil fuel and clean energy division to be bifurcated into separate companies. The investors has welcomed the overhaul which will reverse a structure the business took on in 2005, when its dual listed UK and the Netherlands arms unified under one group. Chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie said ” the simplification will normalise our share structure under the tax and legal jurisdiction of a single country and make us more competitive. As a result Shell will be better positioned to seize opportunities and play a lead role in the energy transition.” In London where the class A shares gained 36p or 202 per cent to 1677.9p. The firm said folding the two categories into one would make it “simpler to understand and value.” Shareholders will vote on proposals on December 10th.