LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in oil major BP rose by 7% to their highest since August in early trade on Monday, after Reuters reported activist investor Elliott Management had built up a stake in the company, citing a source.
By 0823 GMT, the shares were up 7.3% to 464.75 pence, on track for their biggest daily gain since February 2023.
Last year BP shares fell by almost 16% compared with other energy majors Shell, which fell nearly 4%, and ExxonMobil, which rose 8%.
“Given BP’s underperformance versus peers…we think any activist would call for a change in the chairperson at the very least,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said.
BP CEO Murray Auchincloss has been trying to restore investor confidence in the company’s strategy and following the resignation of his predecessor Bernard Looney in September 2023 for failing to disclose relationships with employees.
U.S.-based Elliott is seeking to boost shareholder value by urging BP to consider transformative measures, Bloomberg News reported earlier on Saturday, calling Elliott’s stake in the company “significant”.
The source did not provide the size of the stake, while BP and Elliott have declined to comment.
“In terms of strategic business reviews, we would expect a push to effectively split up the core oil and gas segment to some of BP’s transition growth engines, in order to help minimise capital into these areas,” Borkhataria said.
(Reporting by Samuel Indyk and Arunima Kumar; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Barbara Lewis)
