Shell Petroleum Leaves Dutch and Moves to London

Royal Dutch Shell said on Monday it would scrap its dual share structure and move its head office to Britain from the Netherlands. The company was pushed away by Dutch taxes and faced climate pressure in court as the energy giant shifted from oil and gas.

The company, which long faced questions from investors about its dual structure and had recently been hit by a Dutch court order over its climate targets, aims to drop Royal Dutch from its name – part of its identity since 1907 – to become Shell Plc.

The Company has been in a long-running tussle with the Dutch authorities over the country’s 15% dividend withholding tax, which sought to avoid paying with its two share classes. Its new structure would resolve that issue. In a further knock to its relations with the Netherlands, the biggest Dutch state pension fund ABP said last month it would drop Shell and all fossil fuels from its portfolio.

The Dutch government said on Monday it was unpleasantly surprised by Shell plans to move to London from The Hague. shares, which will still be traded in Amsterdam and New York under the plan, climbed more than 2% in London on Monday morning after the news. Shell said that the current complex share structure is subject to constraints and may not be sustainable in the long term.