Forna telekomrivaler redo för uppköpsstrid

Frågan är i vilken utsträckning Svanberg kan acceptera att sälja ut BP nu då bolaget fortfarande dras med sviterna efter den gigantiska oljeläckan i USA.

Enligt uppgifter i Daily Mail var Shell redo att lägga ett formellt bud på BP redan i somras då krisen kring läckan var som störst.

Något bud kom inte den gången (efter att BP-styrelsen uppvisat starkt motstånd under Shells sonderingar?), men kanske laddar Shell nu för ett nytt initiativ.

– Shell kan mycket väl fortfarande vara intresserat av att köpa BP. Det skulle lyfta uppgångspotentialen för BP-aktien, säger aktieanalytikern Gudmund Halle Isfeldt på DnB Nor till Bloomberg.

Hittills har BP-aktien återhämtat cirka 60 procent sedan krisen.

Och i veckan har ytterligare goda nyheter framkommit genom att den särskilda kompensationsfond som BP har satt upp, kanske inte kommer att behöva utbetala så stora belopp som befarat.

Fonden är på totalt 20 miljarder dollar, och fondens ansvarige Kenneth Feinberg har uttalat sig för Bloomberg om att 10 miljarder dollar kan vara mer än nog för att betala alla krav.

Om det inte gjorts tidigare kan BP med Svanberg i spetsen ha intresse av att anlita någon investmentbank som kan bistå BP med försvar mot fientliga uppköp.

I och för sig kan uppköp vara bra för BP:s aktieägare, men med en offensiv investmentbank som rådgivare kan uppköpsobjektet försöka se till att budet blir så högt som möjligt.

Realtid.se har ringt upp BP:s informationsavdelning i London som varken vill kommentera något eventuellt bud från Shell eller om BP anlitat någon investmentbank till sitt försvar.

BP vill inte heller kommentera om bolaget nu har kommit över krisen med läckan, men skulle återkomma med mer information om det.

Realtid.se har även sökt någon talesperson på Shells huvudkontor i Holland.

BP är värt över 900 miljarder kronor på Londonbörsen enligt Bloomberg.

BP:s aktiekurs faller tillbaka något i onsdagens inledande handel efter tisdagens kraftiga kursuppgång då det Daily Mail skrev om Shells BP-intresse.

BP-aktien har haft en långsiktigt nedåtgående trend de senaste fem åren, och var som lägst nere kring 300 brittiska pence i juni i samband med krisen med oljeläckan.

I dagsläget handlas aktien i 490-500 pence.

Hela Shell är värt över 1300 miljarder kronor på Londonbörsen enligt Bloomberg.

Shell-aktien var nere i 1500 pence som lägst under finanskrisen hösten 2008, men har sedan dess stigit kraftigt till nuvarande nivå på 2100-2200 pence.

BP hör senare av sig via sin talesperson Sheila Williams som skickar följande mejl:

”Regarding your question about BP’s future: You might find this useful.

These were taken from Bob Dudley’s speech at the 3Q press conference in November:

Over the coming months, our objectives are clear.

Above all, we will and we must ensure that we continuously deliver safe and reliable operations across the world, and also rapidly and fully embed the new Safety and Operational Risk function throughout the company, focussing particularly on assessing and addressing low probability/high impact risks.

We will continue to meet our obligations in the US and we will also work to share the lessons we have learned from the Macondo tragedy across the world. By doing this, we can begin the journey to re-establish trust in BP, around the world and, particularly, in the US.

And we will be working to restore financial stability for both BP and therefore for our shareholders.

We will also be looking hard at the company and its direction into 2011 – and beyond.

Highlights of the quarter included the permanent sealing of the Macondo well and the issuing of the Bly report. We have also secured our commitments to the $20 billion Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust in the US.

We announced both the new Safety and Operational Risk organisation and the restructuring of the upstream segment into three functional divisions.

And, putting aside the incident for a moment, the BP group as a whole delivered a strong business performance throughout the quarter – in terms of both financial and safety performance.

Our announced divestment programme is on track and we have secured new agreements to grow our business in Azerbaijan, in China, Egypt and last week with several new licenses here in the UK.

The progress allows us to continue to rebuild and strengthen the balance sheet.

For the future, the Board has committed itself to reviewing payment of a dividend when we announce the full-year results in February of next year.

But let me be clear; we know we have a long road ahead of us to earn back trust in BP.

We need to rebuild the trust we have lost with the people of the Gulf Coast, our shareholders, with governments, regulators, customers and, very importantly, our own employees. Our response starts with the effort to make things right in the Gulf – cleaning up the damage and compensating those that are affected.

Beyond that, restoring trust means understanding and implementing the specific lessons of the accident itself for our deepwater activities, and the wider lessons for the company. Above all, we must do everything in our power to ensure there are no more accidents.

To this end, we are making important changes in the way we operate, the way we organise our company and the way we manage risk.

The creation of the new, independent Safety and Operational Risk function ensures that we have more people with the authority to make sure our standards are fully met and that our operations are safe and reliable. Its staff will be fully empowered to intervene in commercial decisions. The head of this new function will report directly to me and be a member of the senior management team.

The re-structuring of the upstream business into separate Exploration, Development and Production divisions builds on the work we started last year to move to a standard, functional model. It aims to continue to deepen our focus on executing our activities to the highest standards in the industry and reinforcing accountability for risk. Each of these three divisions will have accountability for the safe and compliant execution of activities within their areas.

He said that with the chages that were being made they amounted to fundamental and far-reaching changes at BP. These changes are just the first and the most urgent steps in our programme to earn back trust in BP, which is so essential to our licence to operate in society. The objective, as I have said, it to make BP an industry leader at managing risk. We are determined to succeed at this.

But while acknowledging these tough realities, we should be clear that we still have strong foundations to build on for recovery.

We have a sound global business that is delivering good financial results.”

En hållpunkt framöver är den 1 februari då BP presenterar sin resultatrapport för fjärde kvartalet 2010.

Då kommer vd Bob Dudley även att göra en presentation om BP med en uppdatering av strategin och läget för bolaget.