Activist investor calls for BP chair to quit after ’embarrassing’ performance
An activist investor famed for ousting senior leadership has called for BP chair Helge Lund to quit after the oil major’s “embarrassing” performance.
Bluebell Capital Partners, a London-based hedge fund, has written to BP’s board board twice in the past few weeks attacking its management and the firm’s approach to the transition.
Bluebell co-founders, Guiseppe Bivona and Marco Taricco, described the petrochemical giant’s recent performance as “unacceptably dire”, voicing particular concerns about the lack of clarity from leadership around its long-term approach to fossil fuels.
BP has been slower than rivals like Shell and Exxonmobil to reaffirm its focus on fossil fuels. The British oil giant had been viewed as one of its industry’s most progressive major players, with former chief executive Bernard Looney setting the business some of the most ambitious renewable targets among all oil majors.
But as many of the sector’s big players rowed back on their own sustainability targets to double down on more lucrative fossil fuel projects, information on BP’s long term strategy regarding fossil fuels under new boss Murray Auchincloss has been limited to leaks and individual decisions.
Last week, Reuters claimed the firm had abandoned its target to cut oil and gas output by 40 per cent by 2030. And in June, Auchincloss paused all recruitment and new projects in its renewable division.
Now, Bluebell, which has already successfully campaigned for the removal of Danone’s boss Emmanuel Faber and Hugo Boss chief Mark Langer in 2020, said that while reports of BP watering down its focus on renewables was welcome, the lack of clarity was “indefensible and utterly outrageous”.
“BP should immediately present an updated strategic plan,” the activist investor said. “Waiting until the publication of the 2024 full-year results is a waste of time and creates the false impression that this update is business as usual.
“The update must be a clear acknowledgement of the board’s failure. In the meantime, information that is regulated in nature seems to be clearly, and unacceptably, leaked to the press by company sources in an effort to calm the market and ‘buy more time’.
“Given the continuing evidence of a grossly mismanaged company, we see no option than for the chairman of the board and the lead independent director to be removed.”
BP has previously said it would update investors on its medium-term strategy in February 2025.
Unlike many of its peers, BP has struggled to take advantage of what has been a lucrative few years for much of the sector. Since the start of 2023, shares in BP are down 13.8 per cent, while Shell’s and Exxon Mobil’s stock prices are up 11.5 and 12 per cent respectively.
A spokesperson for BP told City PM: “As we have said previously, from all our extensive and active engagement with our shareholders, there is no meaningful support for Bluebell Capital’s position.”