LONDON -- Oil major BP attracted takeover speculation on Monday; shares in the company rose on the London exchange as much as 1.8% on talk that Exxon Mobil Corp. was poised to make a bid for the company, reported The Telegraph.
Such gossip is not new, the newspaper said. In 2010, following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, there were frequent rumors that BP was vulnerable to a takeover, with Irving, Texas-based ExxonMobil named as a potential "predator," the report said.
Having been there a number of times before, many dealers were not convinced by the renewed chatter, said the report, although that did not stop BP from finishing higher in a weak market.
BP--with U.S. operations based in Chicago, Houston and Blaine, Wash.--markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year United States to consumers through more than 11,000 branded retail outlets and supplies more than four billion gallons of fuel annually to fleets, industrial users, auto and truck manufacturers, railroads and utilities. With headquarters in London, BP is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. It is a global producer, manufacturer and marketer of oil, gas, chemicals and renewable energy sources.
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