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The Elliott Management activist coverage fund has created a participation in the main pressure of the United Kingdom, according to two people with knowledge of the measure.
The exact size of Elliott’s participation could not be learned, but the assets of $ 70 billion under the management coverage fund have adjusted their activist strategy in recent years to increase the size of their individual bets, while reducing The number of situations on which it focuses.
BP shares have fallen almost 9 percent during the past year, compared to a 6.5 percent increase for rival shell, and investors have complained about the low financial performance of the company, high levels of debt and the lack of strategic clarity.
During the last weeks, speculation in the London market has abounded that BP is vulnerable to an acquisition offer or an activist shareholder.
The pressure of the US investor could press BP to re -behere in its main oil and gas business after years of building an extensive empire of green energy projects.
A BP investor suggested that Elliott could request a complete breakdown or that the company retired from some of its weakest businesses and confirmed in the United States.
Other activist funds have recently considered accumulating a participation in BP, but the size of the company of £ 70 billion has deterred them. An American activist who considered a movement said the BP board had been “asleep at the wheel” and had a “confusing strategy.” He added: “The upward business of BP alone justifies all its market value.”
Both BP and Elliott declined to comment.
BP reports the quarterly results on Tuesday and will update investors about their medium -term strategy on February 26.
Murray Auchincloss, executive director of the company, delayed the update and transferred it from New York to London after having undergone an unleashed medical procedure.
Elliott is directed in the United Kingdom and Europe by Gordon Singer, the son of the founder of Paul Singer. The firm has addressed companies such as the mining group that quotes in the United Kingdom Anglo American and Pharmaceutical Giant GSK.
The firm is well known as a fearsome activist inverter who is willing to fight in the battles of the Board Room if he does not agree with the strategic direction of a company.
Earlier this week, the FT reported that Elliott had built a 5 percent participation in the conglomerate of the United Kingdom Smiths Group, supporting a plan for the company to sell or demerge two of its four units.
The firm won a great victory in the American conglomerate Honeywell this week when the company announced plans to divide on Thursday, only three months after Elliott embarked on a campaign to achieve that result.
Bloomberg first reported Elliott’s participation in BP.
Additional Jamie Smyth reports in New York
