Reuters: Mergers News: UPDATE 1-BP may sell stake in Russian venture TNK-BP

Reuters: Mergers News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 1-BP may sell stake in Russian venture TNK-BP Jun 1st 2012, 06:40 Fri Jun 1, 2012 2:40am EDT LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) - BP said it was considering a sale of its half-share of Russia's third-largest oil producer TNK-BP after receiving bid approaches, possibly heralding the end of one of the UK oil major's most lucrative, audacious and troublesome ventures. BP said in a statement on Friday that it had received "unsolicited approaches" and had notified its partner, Alfa Access Renova (AAR), a group of four Soviet-born billionaires, of its intention to pursue a potential sale. A spokesman declined to say which parties had made the approaches but, given the Kremlin's desire to exert influence over the oil sector, suspicion is likely to fall on state-backed players such as Rosneft and Gazprom. On Monday, one of the billionaires, Mikhail Fridman, resigned as chief executive of TNK-BP , citing a breakdown in relations with BP. BP sources said they believed the move was a tactic to force the company to buy out AAR's stake in the venture. BP formed TNK-BP with AAR in 2003 to expand into Russia, one of the few major resource-holders where foreign oil companies could invest. It has been a huge financial success for BP, yielding billions of dollars more in dividends than it invested in buying its interest. However, it has been a bumpy ride, prompting investors to attach a significant discount to the stake. Shortly after the venture was formed, Russia became more hostile to foreign and private sector investment. The Kremlin's preference to reserve larger fields for state-controlled groups has limited TNK-BP's ability to expand in Russia. Meanwhile, BP has been locked in periodic spats with its co-owners that have led to worries that BP could lose its interest with little or no compensation. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions