Major shareholders voted to relocate headquarters to London

Shares of Shell, a hydrocarbon company, voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of relocating the group’s headquarters from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom and the Royal Dutch exit from the group’s name.

Committee Chairman Andrew McKenzie praised the “overwhelming support of shareholders” in an official document, 99.77% of whom voted in favor of the projects at a meeting in Rotterdam.

The panel will therefore transfer senior executives to London, including its tax residence and CEO Ben von Beardon. The company will have 8,500 employees in the Netherlands.

The transaction will strengthen Shell’s competitiveness and accelerate the implementation of its strategy to become a shareholder distribution and net zero emission energy company by 2050, “he said in a statement.

McKenzie said the board must formally approve the plans “as soon as possible in a reasonable manner” before they can take effect.

Europe’s largest energy company wants to simplify its structure and realign its tax settlement with the registered country, the United Kingdom, which will relocate its governing bodies.

The exchange, the announcement of the bombing impact in November, will allow the team to accelerate its transition to net zero emissions, the group promises.

“We are always proud of the importance of the Netherlands to our heritage and will continue to do so,” he said. McKenzie said.

The Dutch government abandoned plans to end the dividend tax, weighing the balance, McKenzie agreed.

He denied, however, that the move was triggered by a Dutch court ruling earlier this year that should reduce shell emissions.

Rage

The Royal Dutch Shell announced its proposed action on November 15, which provoked outrage in the Netherlands.

The Royal Dutch Shell was born in 1907 from the merger of Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij and the British company Shell Transport and Trading.

The move would result in the loss of the Netherlands’ largest company, and for the first time in 130 years it would be removed from the “Royal Dutch” name, leaving only the “shell”.

Shell is the second largest company to leave London after Unilever last year.

The shell is repeatedly isolated by environmental systems. This year, a Dutch court ruled that Shell should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, a historic victory for environmental activists.

In late October, Third Point, an “operator” investment firm, called for the removal of the shell, citing a strategy that was seen as a contradiction between hydrocarbons and energy conversion.

Climate issues

Several shareholders on Friday asked Shell senior executives if their plans were adequate to cope with climate change.

McKenzie stressed that the relocation would make the company more “flexible” as it moves away from fossil fuels, which would not “affect” the court’s decision.

He sought to downplay his comments in November that the company was “driven to the UK” by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s decision to drop his dividend tax removal plan in 2018.

“Several factors” were taken into account in this decision, he said.

According to local media reports, the shelling cost the Dutch government billions in euros in taxes.

In return, the hack could demand a “departure tax” of about 400 million euros through the shell. But Mr McKenzie said the chances of that happening were “low”.

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