Third Point takes $750m Shell stake and calls for break-up of energy giant

Third Point takes $750m Shell stake and calls for break-up of energy giant

Shell is under pressure to break up after activist hedge fund Third Point built up a $750million stake.

The push from Third Point, led by Dan Loeb, is the most serious challenge yet to the Shell strategy of embracing the energy transition while continuing to pump oil and gas.

Loeb’s Third Point LLC has taken a $750 million stake, according to a person familiar with the matter, equivalent to about 0.4% of the company. The firm said in a letter Wednesday to investors that Shell would benefit from breaking off its liquefied natural gas, renewables and marketing businesses into a standalone company. That would separate it from Shell’s legacy energy business, which would include the upstream, refining and chemicals operations.