Reuters: Dutch pension funds file lawsuit against Shell: "The fact that such a large group of public institutional investors, representing virtually the entire workforce of a single country, has joined forces in this case is a good indication of the sense of betrayal felt by Dutch shareholders by the management of Royal Dutch,": Mon Jan 9, 2006 2:31 PM GMT

AMSTERDAM, Jan 9 (Reuters) - A group of 26 Dutch pension funds has filed a lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) (RDSb.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in a U.S. court, seeking to recover losses related to its oil reserve overbooking scandal, the group's lawyers said on Monday.

The group, led by the ABP Investments fund, which has 2.4 million members, is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages stemming from the company's improper accounting for its oil and natural gas reserves between 1997 and 2003, said a statement from Grant & Eisenhofer, which represents the funds.

Rene Maatman, chief legal counsel for ABP Investments, said the fund wanted to file its own lawsuit separately from the U.S. class action before its right to make a claim expired, in order to ensure that non-U.S. shareholders would be able to claim damages.

"We want to be treated equally (with U.S. class-action plaintiffs)," Maatman said.

According to the complaint, the funds purchased more than 200 million shares between 1999 and 2005 in Royal Dutch, the former Dutch parent and now a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.

"The funds claim they acquired their shares at artificially inflated prices and that the overall value of their holdings suffered massive losses, the exact amounts to be determined at trial," the statement said.

Shell said in a statement that the unit named in the action "contests ABP's claim and will vigorously defend itself against the action".

Maatman said he expected to reach a favourable judgment or settlement for ABP Investments: "We have confidence in a successful outcome."

Shell paid $90 million to settle a class action taken by employee investors and another $9.2 million to settle a shareholder action last year.

Shell's London-listed "A" shares edged 0.4 percent lower to 1,841 pence, lagging the DJ Stoxx European oil and gas sector index, which was up 0.65 percent. Shell has been battling lawsuits and criminal and regulatory investigations since it announced in January 2004 that it had overstated its oil and gas reserves by around 20 percent.

The scandal led to the sacking of the group's top management and a sweeping restructuring that included merging the company's dual Anglo-Dutch ownership structure into a single firm.

"Despite the complex oil reserve accounting issues behind the suit, this case is really about misplaced trust," said Jay Eisenhofer of Grant & Eisenhofer in the statement.

"The fact that such a large group of public institutional investors, representing virtually the entire workforce of a single country, has joined forces in this case is a good indication of the sense of betrayal felt by Dutch shareholders by the management of Royal Dutch," Eisenhofer said.

As a result of the overbooking, Shell was forced to issue five separate restatements of its financial reporting and paid more than $120 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ShellNews.net: The relevant court document can be viewed via this link: http://www.gelaw.com/royaldutchshell.html (select "Complaint (filed copy).PDF")

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