An old well -known vulture background for Argentina goes after important British oil company

Like the sequel to the classic film “Wall Street” by Oliver Stone, “money never sleeps”, an old acquaintance of the last Argentine governments, The Bultr Nor does it seem to do it since now it goes after an important British oil company. The CEO of this Hedge Fund, Paul Singerremembered by the trial won the country by the Default of 2001, not only enters sovereign debt under stress, one of his expertise, but also Now it goes for assets of important companies such as the BP oil company.

According to the British newspaper Financial Times, Elliott Management is pressing so that BP makes important assets sales to address the problem of infraval actions of the oil company based in the United Kingdom after The American investor will accumulate a participation of almost 5% for a value of about US $ 4,750 million.

The first market reaction to the news of the recent acquisition of a participation by Elliott in BP, which now makes it the third largest shareholderit was an impulse for BP actions (7%rose) that would later fall when the oil company reported profits below expectations. “The profits of the fourth quarter did not reach the estimation of consensus of the analysts and were the lowest quarterly gains from the fourth quarter of 2020, when the pandemic was affecting the global demand for oil. BP attributed the lowest profits to refining margins made, as well as a greater impact of recovery activity, volumes of seasonally lower customers and fuel margins, ”said TSVETANA PARASKOVA DE OILPRICE.

Strategy to improve yields

In the publication of the fourth quarter, BP also announced a fundamental restart of its strategy in its search to improve the performance of their shares and recover the confidence of investors. “On the basis of the measures taken in the last 12 months, we now plan The executive director of BP said Murray Auchincloss, in a statement, who said that BP executives will communicate their new strategy, which “will be a new address for BP.”

“Analysts and investors expect even more cuts in the low carbon emissions business and a promise to increase oil and gas production on capital markets at the end of the month”Parasskova said who also anticipated that the pressure became more intense after reports that Elliott Management had bought a participation in BP and would be pressing to achieve changes in the strategy, or even reorganizations in the Board of Directors.

Elliot and other oil objectives

Days ago, Parasskova said, Elliott pointed to another great oil company: it demands changes in the American Phillips 66 refinery after accumulating a participation of US $ 2,500 million. According to the specialist, Elliott Investment Management, known for its aggressive tactics, is expected to boost significant changes in BP, potentially including a strategic rehealth in oil and a reduction in green energy initiatives.

The BP CEO is preparing to announce plans to revitalize the company’s growth, which may imply more disinversions in renewable energy and cost reduction measures, since The company has had a lower performance than its pair, Shell, during the past year.

It should be remembered that BP is one of the largest companies that are quoted in the London Stock Exchange and one of the greatest members of the FTSE 100, the main blue stock rate of the United Kingdom. The actions of the oil giant have had a lower performance than expected during the last year, since the company has had difficulty finding a course in changes in management. BP shares have fallen around 10% during the last year, compared to a 6% gain for its pair that lies in the London Stock Exchange, Shell.

Without a doubt, the move of Singer caught market attention since it is considered one of the most aggressive active coverage fund investors in the worldwhich has a long successful career in the transformation of the companies in which it invests. The fund recently changed its investment strategy to focus on a few smaller and aggressive bets instead of a wide range of positions. Last year, the coverage fund took an important participation of US $ 3,000 million in Suncor Energythe Canadian Integrated Energy Company that specializes in the extraction of hydrocarbons from oil sands. The position, equivalent to a participation close to 5%, helped the coverage fund to increase pressure on the Board of Directors of Suncor Energy as part of its campaign to unlock billions of dollars in value for investors. The market seems to bet that Elliott will adopt the same BP approach.

PLANS FOR BP

In December, BP said it would split its marine wind energy business in a joint company of US $ 500 million with Jera, the largest electricity company in Japan, in what was the last sign of the group of a retirement of renewable energy. The BP CEO has also established plans to reduce the BP costs by the end of the decade by US $ 2,000 million and has frozen external hiring. For his part, Kathleen Brooks, Research Director of XTB, commented: “This is not the first time that an active investor has BP in the sights. Bluebell Capital Partners began to speak openly about the low BP performance last year and also asked to shoot heads, including the president. “Like Bluebell, Elliott also wants BP to abandon its plans to reduce the use of fossil fuels. The difference this time is that Elliott is better known than Bluebell and has a history of having managed to approve the corporate changes you want. “We do not know what the size of its participation is or what exactly its plans for BP are: will it try to divide the company or attempt to force a sale of it? “As we have already said, We do not believe that Elliott still has sufficient participation in BP to force a sale of the company; However, if a firm offer for BP was presented in the coming weeks, the price of the shares could be shotin our opinion. ”

Allen Good, Morningstar shares research director, said: “BP’s low long -term performance has previously asked the question of why no active investor participated.” The size was probably an obstacle. Now it seems that Elliott is risking to boost change, as he has done with other oil and gas companies. ”

In the market, there are a variety of options that could follow, including a sale, a relocation in the US, but the most likely would be some strategic exchange rate that focuses on oil and minimizes low carbon emissions, as Shell has done. ”

The Bloomberg agency recently commented that BP, under pressure from Hedge Active Founder Elliott Investment Management, is considering a possible sale of its Castrol lubricants business. The unit could be worth $ 10,000 million in an operation.