(Nederlandse versie)
Last week it was announced that Shell shareholders who have suffered financial damages can share an additional USD 120 million that Shell was obliged to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) in 2004 by way of penalty for the reserves scandals. This settlement comes on top of the USD 380 million settlement that the VEB and other European shareholders reached with Shell.
Payment of the SEC compensation will be made before that of the European settlement. This European settlement must still be declared generally binding by the Amsterdam Court of Appeals before a distribution can be made. Judgment is expected in the course of 2009 and, should the judgment be favourable, shareholders will then be able to submit their claims. 18 November deadline for claims submission
A condition for payment of the SEC settlement is that shareholders must submit their claim no later than18 November 2008 to the US-based claims administrator. Investors having purchased Royal Dutch or Shell Trading & Transport shares in the course of the period starting 8 April 1999 and ending on 17 March 2004 may qualify for compensation under the terms of the SEC settlement. On 6 August the VEB passed on the addresses of the Shell shareholders known to the VEB to the US-based claims administrator. The US-based claims administrator will shortly send a claims package to those shareholders, i.e. shareholders who have registered prior to 5 August 2008 on veb.net, shellvergoeding.nl or shellcompensation.com. Shareholders will then have until 18 November 2008 to submit their claims on the forms supplied, together with the relevant evidence of trading. If you have not received a claims package by 1 September 2008, pleasedownload it on www.shellsecsettlement.com or apply for one from the US-based claims administrator. If you registered on or after 5 August 2008 on one of the websites referred to above, you should download the claims package yourself or apply for one from the US-based claims administrator. Payment via bank transfer also possible
The original idea had been for European investors to receive their payment by cheque. Given the significant costs associated with presenting a cheque to the banks, it will also be possible to ensure payment into a bank account instead of by cheque. Investors preferring to have their compensation paid direct to their bank account can notify the US-based claims administrator by e-mail to that effect. They should enclose the data required for international payments (IBAN/BIC codes).
The above arrangements do not extent to the acceptance of claims,but are designed to simplify their submission.We will keep all registered investors informed about developments.Vereniging van Effectenbezitters