OREANDA-NEWS. September 23, 2009. Victor Vekselberg, one of the major TNK-BP shareholders, said in an interview with Interfax that a new CEO of TNK-BP will be appointed by year’s end, emphasizing that TNK-BP shareholders are only considering the two candidates who have already been put forward, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE FC.

View: Currently there are the two candidates for the CEO slot at TNK-BP, Pavel Skitovich (proposed by British Petroleum) and Maxim Barsky (proposed by Russian AAR consortium). Both are now serving in deputy CEO positions. We believe that regardless of who is chosen, naming a CEO will send a strong, positive signal to investors concerning company leadership. Once the new CEO is in place, the company could make a decision about a future IPO for TNK-BP or for one its subsidiaries.

Valuation: TNK-BP Holding’s P/E is equal to 8.1x, and the stock trades on P/E at a 24% discount to the rest of the energy sector. 

Action: We view this news as a short-term positive for TNK-BP Holding’s stock price. Currently, we have no target price or rating for the stock.