Shell’s ‘record-breaking’ IPO

PILIPINAS Shell Petroleum Corporation (Shell) headed by Filipino country manager Edgar Chua has set a world record. No, not the kind you’d enter in the Guinness Book of World Records. This one is more suited for Ripley’s “Believe It or Not.” We’re talking about Shell’s record for the world’s longest initial public offering (IPO) in-the-making: 17 years and counting.

For almost two decades now, Shell has come up with a catalog of excuses to avoid complying with Sec. 22 of the 1998 Oil Deregulation Law, which requires oil companies that operate refineries in the country to sell at least 10 percent of its common stock via a public offering.