Quote:
Originally Posted by roachboy
i'm kinda waiting to see how the walk-away happens.
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The above statement is confusing.
BP has a legal liability, they can not walk away from their legal liability while keeping the organization intact. At this point the value of the company far exceeds the legal liability. Also, given the legal liability involving the oil spill and clean up, the liability will move to the front of the line ahead of almost all other liabilities. In addition, BP already made a commitment of $20 billion that will be handled by the government. Certainly BP wants to walk away, and they want to do it a.s.a.p, with certainty or defined costs, but they can not just walk away. To the degree that BP gets away with not being held accountable our judicial system and the Obama administration will have to take the blame.
And, if BP gets sold and a firm with deeper pockets assumes BP's legal liabilities, that is good for us. And given BP's current credibility problems and the perceived risks in financial markets with the company (either share price or ability to get debt financing to help manage legal liabilities) it may be best that another entity step in.
As BP's share price falls below book value/intrinsict value/etc., naturally "value investors" are going to be interested. This is a normal market response, and not about "vultures" circling. BP failed, and there are consequences for failure.