BP sells stake in Norway's Aker BP at 12% discount
BP sells stake in Norway's Aker BP at 12% discount OSLO, Nov 5 (Reuters) - British oil major BP BP.L has sold a 5% stake in Norway's Aker BP AKRBP.OL for 9.83 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.06 billion), brokers Barclays and DNB Carnegie said on Thursday.
The shares were sold at a price of 311 crowns, a 12% discount to Wednesday's closing price of 354 crowns on the Oslo Bourse
Aker BP was formed in 2016 when BP merged its Norwegian assets with Det norske oljeselskap, controlled by Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke
BP owned 15.9% of Aker BP before the transaction, making it the company's second-largest shareholder after Roekke's investment firm Aker ASA AKER.OL
The remaining 10.9% stake held by BP will be subject to a 90-day lock-up period following completion of a sale, subject to customary exemptions
In July, BP launched the sale of its UK upstream portfolio, estimated to be worth about $2.6 billion, with existing North Sea producers seen as the most likely bidders
Aker BP has previously ruled out pursuing upstream acquisitions outside Norway
($1 = 9.3035 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Stine Jacobsen)
((terje.solsvik@thomsonreuters.com; +47 918 666 70;))