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Daily Telegraph: Shell urged to help pay investors' tax
bills: "Lord
Oxburgh of Liverpool, the former chairman of Shell, has
called on the oil and gas giant to compensate British
investors left with a multi-million pound tax bill from
its restructuring.": The vast majority of the 3,000
Royal Dutch holders accepted the deal after Jeroen van
der Veer, Shell's chief executive, warned his "toolbox"
to help them was empty. But a small minority held out
and were rewarded in late September when Shell offered a
tax-efficient loan note alternative. The shareholders
who originally accepted - and have been left with a
large tax bill - are now considering legal action
against Shell.": Monday 14 November 2005
By Christopher
Hope, Business Correspondent (Filed:
14/11/2005)
Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool, the
former chairman of Shell, has called on the oil and gas
giant to compensate British investors left with a
multi-million pound tax bill from its restructuring.
The peer, who stood down three
months ago, chaired the board of Shell Transport and
Trading when it merged with Royal Dutch Petroleum to
create Royal Dutch Shell, a £130billion oil and gas
giant.
However, it emerged that 3,000 UK
shareholders in Royal Dutch Petroleum, many of them
elderly, were left with a £77m capital gains tax bill on
their collective £192m from the change-over.
Lord Oxburgh, 71, who stepped down
in July, told The Daily Telegraph: "I would feel much
better if a way could be found to compensate them for
the losses they have suffered.
"Privately we had sympathy with them
and the letters that had to be written were quite formal
for that reason.
"I would have liked to have taken
some of those old ladies and given them a big hug but we
were not allowed to do so." Shell's board had been
unaware of the extent of British holders in Royal Dutch
because many of the holdings were through anonymous
nominee accounts, he said.
"The shareholders have to realise
that because they were investing in a Dutch company in
such a way that they were totally invisible as far as
the Royal Dutch board is concerned. Once the problem had
reached that point the company was on the road and in a
position that it would have been illegal to offer any
kind of financial advice to shareholders."
The vast majority of the 3,000 Royal
Dutch holders accepted the deal after Jeroen van der
Veer, Shell's chief executive, warned his "toolbox" to
help them was empty.
But a small minority held out and
were rewarded in late September when Shell offered a
tax-efficient loan note alternative. The shareholders
who originally accepted - and have been left with a
large tax bill - are now considering legal action
against Shell.
The Association of Private Client
Investment Managers and Stockbrokers, which campaigned
for the shareholders and is holding a meeting for
British Royal Dutch holders today, welcomed the peer's
comments.
A spokesman said: "Given Lord
Oxburgh's views on this matter, it is a great pity that
he was unable to act upon them whilst still in charge at
Shell. However, it is never too late for Shell to put
things right."
A Shell spokesman said: "Royal Dutch
Shell does not believe that it is appropriate to provide
payments to some shareholders for individual tax
liabilities. In addition, UK shareholders who accepted
the Royal Dutch offer will have the tax base cost of
their investment reset, which may reduce or eliminate
the CGT arising on future disposals.
"On this basis, it would be
inequitable for Royal Dutch Shell to make payments to
any shareholder for their tax liability."
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