US activist hedge fund Elliott has made a move on troubled energy giant BP, a development that has driven the Telegraph into full lament mode.
Britain has “tumbled so far” that even its industrial champions are fair game for “ruthless speculators”, opined one columnist.
“It is indicative of a country obsessed with net zero, pandering to extreme fringe interest groups”, he added, with BP having let itself be “bullied by eco-zealots”.
Fevered rhetoric aside, BP’s pivot towards green energy under Bernard Looney certainly alienated investors. Looney resigned in September 2023 for not disclosing relationships with employees, but shares have continued to underperform under his successor, Murray Auchincloss.
Announcing a 35 per cent fall in annual profits on Tuesday, Auchincloss promised a strategy that will “fundamentally reset” BP at an investor event on February 26th.
Elliott, which has built a near 5 per cent stake in BP, will likely push for big divestments and to cut spending on renewables. The pledge to cut fossil fuel production by 25 per cent by 2030 looks dead in the water.
A board shake-up, a forced break-up or defensive merger, or moving BP’s main listing from London to New York, are all possibilities, as BP scrambles to convince investors it still has a future – all of which would likely have the Telegraph declaring Britain’s decline complete.
