A hedge fund manager has forced Royal Dutch Shell, the oil company, to obtain a fairness opinion on the price of 27 million shares, worth at least €1.4bn ($1.7bn), it is buying back from minority shareholders.

Lee Robinson, director of Trafalgar Asset Managers, the London-based hedge fund manager with $1bn (€831m) under management, said Royal Dutch Shell, Trafalgar and the Netherlands' Minority Shareholders Association agreed yesterday that an independent party will decide on the fairness of the share buyback price.