Shell winds down UK retail sites as it sells off 185 service stations April 13, 2015 Shell has continued to downscale its European retail operations after announcing its intention to sell off 185 UK service stations yesterday. The announcement by the Anglo‐Dutch oil giant, which last week launched a £47bn bid for BG, comes after the firm made similar divestments in Italy, Germany and Norway last year. The sell-off will involve [...]
Top PRs Roland Rudd and Sir Alan Parker brought together by Shell’s BG Group takeover April 9, 2015 Rarely does one get the two titans of the financial PR world, Finsbury’s Roland Rudd and Brunswick’s Sir Alan Parker, in the same room – but that’s exactly what happened earlier this week in the prep meeting for Shell’s agreed £47bn takeover of BG Group. Observers say that Rudd stood up to shake his rival’s [...]
Helge Lund: The £28m BG Group man who missed his big day out in London April 8, 2015 Oil giant Shell and its takeover target BG Group sent their top executives into the City yesterday to face questions over the proposed £47bn deal, a transaction that would create the largest company on the FTSE. However, one man was notable by his absence – BG’s chief executive Helge Lund, who was deemed so valuable [...]
Royal Dutch Shell BG Group deal: The 14 biggest M&A deals ever made April 8, 2015 Royal Dutch Shell's takeover of BG Group for a pretty impressive price tag of £47bn makes it the 14th largest M&A deal in history. The latest deal may be big, but it doesn't even compare to the largest (though ultimately disastrous) merger of all time – AOL and Time Warner. The biggest deal ever made [...]
Royal Dutch Shell BG Group mega-merger: Are there more oil deals on the way? April 8, 2015 Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell announced a takeover of gas producer BG Group today, in a deal worth £47bn. So is this the start of an oil mega-merger party? About 15 years ago low oil prices caused something similar. (Source: A.T. Kearney) Between 1998 and 1999, oil prices halved to just $10 per barrel, sparking a wave [...]
Royal Dutch Shell BG Group mega-merger: Four things you need to know about the takeover deal April 8, 2015 After BG's board recommended a massive £47bn takeover by Shell, these are the four big things you need to know about the deal. 1. It’s the 14th biggest takeover ever The deal swoops into the record books as the 14th largest M&A deal in history. It will create the biggest company on the FTSE. It's [...]
BG Group share price rockets while Shell tumbles after takeover deal April 8, 2015 Shares in BG Group have rocketed in early trading after a takeover deal by Royal Dutch Shell was confirmed. BG shares shot up more than 40 per cent to 1298.50 pence per share on yesterday's close of 910.40 pence per share – their highest since September. Shares in BG, along with other oil producers, have been [...]
BG Group agrees to £47bn takeover by Royal Dutch Shell in oil mega-merger April 8, 2015 Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced a takeover of BG Group, in a deal valuing gas producer BG at £47bn. Shell will pay a premium of around 50 per cent on BG’s shares, which closed up by 6.74 per cent at 910.40p yesterday, giving it a market capitalisation of £31bn. BG’s board have recommended [...]
Shell to cut 250 North Sea oil jobs as oil prices plummet March 26, 2015 Oil giant Shell has said it will shed around 300 North Sea oil and gas jobs as part of a cost management drive. "The North Sea has been a challenging operating environment for some time," Paul Goodfellow, Shell's upstream vice president for the UK and Ireland at, said. "Reforms to the fiscal regime announced in the budget [...]
FTSE 100 market report: Budget goodies lift oil majors March 18, 2015 Britain's blue-chip index was 0.1 per cent higher this lunchtime as investors digested the chancellor's budget. Chancellor George Osborne unveiled £1.3bn additional support for the struggling north sea oil and gas industry. He said the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts this will boost production by around 15 per cent. Crumbling oil prices have made a [...]