Friday brought news that Royal Dutch
Other oil companies involved in the Nigerian and Australian oil field projects in question -- ChevronTexaco
I have another take on this fiasco. Given recent events, you may safely ignore any company that has received "Royal" status from the first family of the Netherlands. Yep, I said it. Don't trust the Dutch.
After all, we are only just now coming to terms with the frauds committed at Royal Ahold
By this logic, one should rightly stay far away from Koninklijke Philips Electronics
It is a fantastic coincidence, though. Of the five Dutch companies trading in the U.S. with honors given by the monarchy, two have recently been involved in scandal, and a third came awfully close to bankruptcy. There are countries in the world which offer regulatory oversight and legal framework insufficient to offer any sense of protection at all to minority investors. The Netherlands is nowhere near this list.
This article comes with a free bowl of soup. Bill Mann owns none of the companies mentioned.