BP has said its chair is to step down after the oil company faced significant pressure from shareholders, including a powerful New York hedge fund.
The energy company said on Friday that Helge Lund, who had led the business since 2019, would be replaced. He will leave after his successor has joined the board, with Lund “most likely” going in 2026.
Shares in BP rose in February when it emerged that Elliott, a feared New York hedge fund known for its attempts to shake up listed companies, had taken a stake. At the time, analysts expected it to push for an overhaul of BP’s strategy, along with a revamp of its board, with Lund seen as likely to depart.
BP’s chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, announced a “fundamental reset” of the company’s strategy weeks later, leading to a cut of more than £4bn to its low-carbon investment plans.
Amanda Blanc, the boss of Aviva and a senior independent director at BP, will lead the search for a new chair.
Lund said: “Having fundamentally reset our strategy, BP’s focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value. Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover.”
Blanc said: “We are starting a comprehensive search to identify chair candidates with the credibility and relevant experience to lead the board and continue driving management’s safe execution of the reset strategy.”
Last month, the activist investor Follow This said it planned to call for a vote against Lund’s reappointment at its annual general meeting on 17 April.
The group said Lund should have offered investors a say on BP’s strategy shift, announced in February, to cut spending on renewables and boost investment in oil and gas.
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Lund was at the centre of a high-profile storm over a £25m remuneration package to lure him to BG Group, formerly the exploration arm of British Gas that was acquired by Shell for £47bn in 2015.
The Norwegian joined BG Group in 2014 after a stellar 10-year career transforming Statoil, now known as Equinor, from a local operator in Norway into a global oil and gas company.
A shareholders’ revolt forced BG Group to amend Lund’s pay package to ensure his earnings would be more closely linked to company performance.
Source: theguardian.com
