LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of one of the world's biggest firms Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa) warned on Sunday that the oil and gas company would be negatively impacted were Britons to back leaving the European Union in a referendum.
Prime Minister David Cameron is renegotiating his country's membership of the 28-member trading bloc and could reach a deal with EU partners at a summit next month, paving the way for a public vote as soon as June.
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden told the Sunday Times newspaper that the Anglo-Dutch firm, which is currently seeking shareholder approval for its bid to acquire Britain's BG Group (L:BG), could suffer were Britain to leave the bloc.
"We are a company with a strong heritage in the UK and on the Continent. There would be a real break between the two, which would affect freedom of movement of staff, trade — we would be impacted," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"There will be a path of divergence, and that will have all sorts of inefficiencies. That's not good for companies like ours that thrive by there being no barriers. That is a fundamental economic aspect of it."
Several large British businesses have spoken out in favor of the EU, often due to tariff-less trade which they benefit from, although many smaller firms have criticized the bloc for imposing what they argue are costly regulations.
Van Beurden also said the firm's $48 billion bid for BG Group, which has faced shareholder criticism as the oil price drops to a 12-year low, made sense and that he hoped that it would be approved by more than a "narrow margin."
"This deal makes sense if over the next 20-30 years the oil price is above the low $60s. At that level it is value accretive. I think that's an entirely reasonable, sensible risk to take," he said.