By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM, Dec 10 (Reuters) - On the day that shareholders
of Royal Dutch Shell PLC voted to move the company's
headquarters to London https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/royal-dutch-shell-plc-shareholders-set-approve-move-london-2021-12-10
from The Hague, the company sent a letter to the Dutch prime
minister to soften the blow.
Signed by Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, the letter said Shell's
departure had been "a difficult message for us to announce,"
given the company had more than a century of history https://www.reuters.com/article/shell-structure-netherlands-pride-idTRNIKBN2I01BK
as an Anglo-Dutch hybrid.
But the letter https://www.shell.nl/media/nieuwsberichten/2021/shells-commitment-aan-nederland.html
to Prime Minister Mark Rutte outlined the many projects and
activities Shell will continue in the Netherlands, including
retaining 8,500 employees, and the division-level management of
Shell's upstream (production), renewable energy and projects &
technology divisions.
Shell has said its shift to Britain would mean just nine
staff, including CEO Van Beurden, would leave the Netherlands.
"In this letter, we would like to affirm our commitment to
the Netherlands," Van Beurden, who is Dutch, wrote. "Shell has
the ambition to be, both through its own investments and through
cooperation with others, one of the largest drivers of the
energy transition in the Netherlands."
Shell's plans include helping to build the 750MW Hollandse
Kust Noord offshore wind project, scheduled for completion in
2023, and the company is in talks over a hydrogen production
facility at its Pernis refinery in Rotterdam, Europe's largest.
More than 99% of Shell shareholders voted on Friday to
approve the move to London. The company's board must meet once
more to make a final decision, with the changeover likely taking
place in early 2022.
But the outcome seems a foregone conclusion: On Nov. 30 Van
Beurden listed his estate https://www.funda.nl/koop/wassenaar/huis-42445128-groot-haesebroekseweg-1
in Wassenaar, a posh suburb of The Hague, for sale with an
asking price of 6.5 million euros ($7.35 million).
($1 = 0.8840 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; editing by Barbara Lewis)
