With BP’s shares plummeting, the embattled oil company is reportedly concerned about a hostile takeover. So who’s BP turning to for help? Goldman Sachs, of course. Not to mention The Blackstone Group and Credit Suisse.
Fox Business Network’s Charlie Gasparino reported yesterday that Goldman was one of “the lead advisers for BP in trying to figure its way financially out of this mess, and it’s raising a lot of eyebrows.”
Gasparino had reported earlier that three banks had been hired to help BP develop plans to deal with its financial liabilities, and that “the top contingency plan is clearly a potential hostile takeover. If the stock keeps falling, are they basically susceptible to a hostile takeover.”
What is not off the table, according to my Wall Street sources, that they have to look at bankruptcy if this thing does not stop.
BP denies the reports, with a spokesman saying that the company doesn’t reveal “who are our advisers and on what they are advising us,” and that “there’s no truth that we have hired bankers with a defense mandate.”
Still, Bloomberg BusinessWeek also confirmed earlier this week that BP is working with Goldman — and the Blackstone Group. Credit Suisse has been named as the third bank.
Gasparino said yesterday that it’s “extremely, extremely controversial in the markets that Goldman is playing a role here,” and that “Goldman Sachs is gonna make some money off the misery of the Gulf states.”
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