Accountancy Age: Shell loses UK investor court battle: “Royal Dutch Shell could be landed with as much as a £500m payout to minority shareholders, after a court ruled that it offered to buy back shares at too low a price.”: 15 Dec 2005

Kevin Reed

Minority shareholders set for boon after defeating Shell in court

Royal Dutch Shell could be landed with as much as a £500m payout to minority shareholders, after a court ruled that it offered to buy back shares at too low a price.

The case, brought to the courts by British hedge fund Trafalgar Asset Managers, followed the failure by 1.5% of Royal Dutch investors to agree on the oil giant's restructuring plans.

Shell had offered the shareholders 52.21 euros for every share held, but Trafalgar argued that the price had been set too low.

An independent body will set a new price, which could mean Shell pays out anything between 60 euros and 77 euros per share, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

The merger plans, formally bringing together the closely linked businesses, has also been criticised for leaving UK shareholders of Royal Dutch with a multimillion-pound capital gains tax bill.

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