Kuwait: Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund said yesterday that BP Plc had not asked it to raise its stake in the company to 3 per cent, denying a local newspaper report.
"The Kuwait Investment Authority did not receive an offer from BP to increase its stake," KIA said in a statement.
Quoting a KIA official it did not identify by name, Al Anba newspaper reported yesterday that BP's outgoing chief executive, Tony Hayward, made the offer in a telephone call to the fund which owns 1.75 per cent of BP.
KIA said it "made no statement to any local newspaper regarding this issue."
Al Anba reported Hayward said the offer was part of an effort to fend off takeover bids by other international oil companies in the wake of the devastating oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The report said Kuwait, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, had no intention of exiting its investment in the oil major.
