bp Sells 5% of Aker BP at NOK 311 a Share and Raises Its 2026 Divestment Guidance

By The Edge Research Team

bp has sold 5% of Norwegian oil and gas producer Aker BP at NOK 311 a share and raised its guidance for this year’s divestment and other proceeds.

For bp shareholders, the sale turns part of a stake that the company says has gained in value into cash for the balance sheet, which it calls its first priority. Gross proceeds come to NOK 9.83 billion, an estimated $1.06 billion by bp’s figure. In The Edge’s reading, the cost is dividend income: at an unchanged quarterly dividend, the shares sold represent about $83.6 million of annualised dividend income.

Meg O’Neill, bp’s chief executive officer, said Aker BP had built significant value since its creation a decade ago, helped in recent months by strong performance and a favourable macro environment. “We believe now is the right time for us to realize part of this value,” she said.

bp keeps 10.9% of Aker BP under a 90-day lock-up

Aker BP disclosed on the evening of 4 November that bp had hired banks to explore a block sale through an accelerated bookbuilding. The book was to close no later than 07:00 GMT on 5 November, with pricing and allocation expected before 08:00 GMT.

The seller, BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, sold 31.6 million shares at NOK 311 each. At Norges Bank’s rate for 4 November, the price equals $33.70 a share. The shares sold are 5% of Aker BP’s 632.02 million issued shares.

bp now owns 68.7 million shares, or 10.9% of the company. Before the sale its stake was 15.9%, or 100.3 million shares. It has agreed to a 90-day lock-up on the rest, subject to customary exemptions.

Barclays acted as sole global coordinator and bookrunner, with DNB Carnegie as co-bookrunner, and Thommessen AS advised on Norwegian law. Settlement runs on a normal delivery versus payment basis two trading days after pricing.

bp’s holding in Aker BP

From Aker BP ASA’s notices on Oslo Børs of 4 and 5 November 2026; exact counts are 100,302,878 shares before the sale, 31,602,000 sold and 68,700,878 after. Percentages as the notices print them; the sold row is 5% of the 632.02 million issued shares.

The placing price sits 12.1% below Aker BP’s last close

Aker BP’s shares closed at NOK 354.00 on 4 November, the session before the sale was priced. At NOK 311, the placing came 12.1% below that close.

Aker BP’s shares opened the 5 November session at NOK 316.00. That level is 10.7% below the previous close.

Valued at the placing price, bp’s remaining stake comes to NOK 21.37 billion. That equals $2.32 billion on The Edge’s calculation, at Norges Bank’s rate for 4 November.

Aker BP share price markers (in NOK)

Oslo Børs prices from Euronext’s quote data for Aker BP as published on 5 November 2026; placing price from the companies’ announcements.

bp lifts its 2026 divestment guidance to an estimated $9 billion

bp now expects full-year divestment and other proceeds of an estimated $9 billion, the company said. That is an estimated $1 billion above its previous guidance, by the company’s account.

The increase is close in size to the Aker BP sale’s gross proceeds, and the company says the money from Aker BP will go towards strengthening the balance sheet.

The Aker BP proceeds equal less than 8% of bp’s net debt of $13.87 billion at the end of the third quarter, a level The Edge set out with the company’s results.

The sale follows the completion of a much larger disposal earlier this week. As set out in The Edge’s coverage of the completion, bp sold 65% of Castrol to Stonepeak for $6 billion of after-tax proceeds. That total includes an estimated $0.8 billion of prepaid future dividend income on the 35% it kept, by bp’s account.

Divestment and other proceeds came to $836 million in the nine months to September, against $1.71 billion a year earlier. The Castrol completion and the Aker BP sale both came after the period.

bp divestment markers in 2026 (in $ billions)

The bases differ and the rows do not add up to a total: the nine-month figure is disposal proceeds from the cash flow statement; Castrol is after tax and includes a dividend prepayment; Aker BP is gross; the Aker BP and guidance figures are the company’s estimates.

The third-quarter results described further portfolio steps: an agreed sale of bp’s Austrian mobility and convenience business, the completed sale of the Gelsenkirchen refinery, and plans to market its North Sea and Archaea businesses. The same results said the company was still too leveraged, even after the combined total of net debt, hybrids, lease liabilities and Gulf of America settlement liabilities fell by $9.3 billion in the quarter.

The sale gives up a dividend that rose 5% this year

Aker BP’s quarterly dividend this year is $0.6615 a share, up from $0.63 in each quarter of last year. The company states an ambition to raise its dividend by at least 5% a year.

The company says the latest payment is due on or about 12 November to holders of record on 4 November. The shares traded ex-dividend from 3 November, before the placing was priced on 5 November.

That timing leaves the payment due on or about 12 November on the shares sold with bp, which still owned all 100.3 million on the record date. On The Edge’s calculation, the payment on all 100.3 million shares comes to $66.4 million, of which $20.9 million is on the shares sold.

At the current rate, the retained 68.7 million shares carry $45.4 million a quarter. The shares sold carried $20.9 million a quarter, and the gross proceeds equal 12.7 times their yearly dividend at that rate.

Aker BP dividend per share (in $)

Quarterly amounts and payment months from the company’s dividend history; the November 2026 payment is due on or about 12 November; full-year sums are The Edge’s.

Aker BP earned $986 million in the third quarter and keeps two projects on course for next summer

Aker BP reported net profit of $986 million for the third quarter, or $1.56 a share. That figure includes a $262 million after-tax gain from an impairment reversal.

Net production was 374,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, which the company said reflected planned maintenance. It reiterated full-year guidance of 380,000 to 400,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Net sold volumes rose 5% from the second quarter to 396,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.

EBITDA was $3.4 billion and cash flow from operations $2.4 billion. The quarterly dividend announced with the results totals $418.1 million, equal to 42.4% of the quarter’s net profit.

The balance sheet carries a leverage ratio of 0.50 and $5.8 billion of available liquidity. The Yggdrasil and Valhall PWP and Fenris developments remain on track for first production next summer, and the Skarv Satellites project started up in late August, almost a year ahead of its original schedule.

What to watch:

12 November: Aker BP pays its quarterly dividend of $0.6615 a share, on or about that date.

15 December: bp presents its strategy and outlook update, setting out the next phase of its plans.

Figures are from bp’s press release “bp sells 5% stake in Aker BP” of 5 November 2026, its “Third quarter 2026 results” of 30 October 2026 and “bp completes Castrol transaction” of 2 November 2026; Aker BP ASA’s notices on Oslo Børs of 4 and 5 November 2026, its third-quarter 2026 results of 29 October 2026 and its dividend history; and Euronext’s quote data for Aker BP on Oslo Børs as published on 5 November 2026. Dollar equivalents not printed by bp use Norges Bank’s rate of 9.2278 kroner per dollar on 4 November 2026; percentages and comparisons not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.

Sources: bp, Aker BP, Euronext, Norges Bank, The Edge.

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