UK: Exxon-BP acquisition talk resurfaces

US energy giant ExxonMobil has reportedly gauged potential interest among BP’s major shareholders regarding a possible takeover, British newspaper Evening Standard reported on Friday.

According to Evening Standard, which did not specify its sources, BP is reportedly worried that it could be a vulnerable target of an offer exceeding US$145.7 billion. Some of BP’s shareholders are believed to be not very happy with the current share price of BP in London, which is currently around 30 percent lower than what it was before the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Since the worst oil spill disaster in US history, BP has often been the object of market speculation that it is a target of a takeover bid.

As well as the sheer size of a deal, a buyer of BP might be forced to accelerate the payment of as much as two-thirds of the $20B-plus in penalties levied for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which Kapadia says “may not be what someone would want to take on.”

Such a combination also likely would attract the attention of antitrust regulators around the world, particularly in the UK “given the excitable nature of British domestic politics at the moment,” Canaccord’s Alex Brooks says.

Full Content: Standard

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