On Thursday, oil giant BP and Norway’s Aker announced the joint sale of their 5% stake in Norway’s oil company Aker BP at a 10% discount and left their accumulative share at 65%.
Both companies sold 18.01 million shares at NOK310 (USD35.77) each at a 10.2% discount to Wednesday’s close. They gained NOK5.58 billion (USD655 million) from the sale.
The two agreed to not sell any further shares in the venture for the next six months.
Aker’s CEO Oeyvind Eriksen elaborated that the aim of the offering is however to balance Aker’s portfolio by freeing up liquidity, diversifying, and continue growing the portfolio.
Both Aker and BP formed Aker BP in 2016 by combining their Norwegian oil and gas producing units. Ever since then, the company’s shares have soared fourfold. They had sought to realize some of those gains and diversify their holdings while still remaining committed to Aker BP.
“Aker BP is, and will remain, a core holding in Aker’s portfolio,” Eriksen added.
BP CEO Bernard Looney stated that the divestment is consistent with the company’s long-standing track record of active portfolio management.
“These divestment proceeds will be expected to further strengthen BP’s balance sheet and support our ongoing buyback commitment,” he said.
So far Aker has sold 10.29 million of its shares in Aker BP, leaving it with a 37.14% stake while BP sold 7.72 million shares and now owns 27.85% of Aker BP.
