BG Group Bid Speculation: Chris Finlayson, Shell’s secret weapon?
Leads me to speculate whether Chris Finlayson was infiltrated into BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell for surreptitious purposes, including dragging the company down. If so, he appears to have done a magnificent job.
By John Donovan
BG Group has been the subject of bid speculation for a long time. e.g.
- BG Group shares rise on bid reports(BBC News Aug 2010)
- Speculation over hostile bid for BG Group (London Evening Standard Nov 2012)
- BG Exposed to Bids (Bloomberg Jan 2013)
- BG Group investors say Finlayson’s exit raises takeover prospect (FT 28 April 2014)
Extract from the FT article:
However, a top 10 shareholder said that, with BG now rudderless, it had become a prime takeover target. “It’s a green light to a potential bidder….”
ExxonMobil is identified as one such potential bidder.
According to an email I received this morning from a Shell source: “BG… reserves might also be good for Shell…”
Shell has certainly flirted with the idea many times.
Leads me to speculate whether Chris Finlayson was infiltrated into BG Group by Royal Dutch Shell for surreptitious purposes, including dragging the company down.
If so, he appears to have done a magnificent job.
UPDATE
Exxon, Shell Have Capacity for BG Bid After CEO Exit (Bloomberg News 29 April 2014)
Extract
Exxon Mobil (XOM:US) Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) andChevron Corp. (CVX:US) have the capacity to bid for BG Group Plc (BG/) after Chief Executive Officer Chris Finlayson resigned yesterday, said RBC Capital Markets.
Oman gripped by action against oil corruption
Extracts from a PLATTS article by Tamsin Carlisle published 28 April 2014
The Oman government’s crackdown on graft in oil and gas contracting has become the talk of the town in Muscat, with opinions sharply divided on whether it is going far enough. Five officials of the gas division of Petroleum Development Oman, a joint venture between the government of Oman, Royal Dutch Shell, France’s Total and Portugal’s Partex, remain on trial in the Galfar cases, which are still before the court. PDO Managing Director Raoul Restucci attributed the embroilment of Oman’s flagship oil and gas producer in the corruption scandal to a few bad apples.
BP And Shell Have Problems, But Manageable Ones, With The Russian Sanctions
Extract from a Forbes article by Tim Worstall published 29 April 2014
The imposition of sanctions on various Russian people and organisations over the Ukraine threatened to pose a number of problems for the big energy companies, especially BP and Shell. If Rosneft itself were placed on the list, for example, or Gazprom, the the respective situations for BP and Shell would change markedly. …obviously neither of them is going to flout the law of a country where they have such considerable interests, as they do in the US.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
