OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, said on Saturday it would vote in favour of the reappointment of BP’s current chair to the company’s board of directors.
Ahead of its annual meeting on April 25, BP has proposed the reappointment of Chair Helge Lund to the board, which last year dismissed former CEO Bernard Looney.
The fund said it would also vote in favour of BP’s executive remuneration package.
Two major shareholder advisory firms have expressed support for the BP board’s handling of former CEO Bernard Looney’s dismissal last year, ahead of the British energy giant’s AGM.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which operates the Norwegian fund, is one of BP’s biggest investors, with a 3.41% stake in the company at the end of last year, valued at the time at $3.48 billion.
NBIM did not give a detailed explanation for its voting intentions.
Shares in BP, which reported $13.8 billion in profit in 2023, have underperformed rivals since Looney abruptly stepped down last September.
(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn, editing by Terje Solsvik)
