Saturday, September 25, 2010

Mubadala on BP Assets


The Carlyle Group is part owned by Mubadala Development Co, a United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth firm. While Mubadala is diversified, the majority of its businesses are energy related.  The Carlyle Group has an energy joint venture, Riverstone Holdings.  Technically, Mubadala owns part of Riverstone.

Zawya reported:

In August, David Douglas, senior vice president at Mubadala's oil and gas unit, told Zawya Dow Jones that the firm will look at BP PLC assets going on sale.
David Douglas can call an ex-BP CEO for consultation.  Lord John Browne is a managing director at Riverstone Holdings.  Lord Browne mentored Robert "Turtle" Dudley, BP's new CEO.  Browne's top assistants were nicknamed "Turtles", after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Surely, Dudley would take a call from the good Lord.

Who knows if Mubadala will seek Lord Browne's advice on what BP assets to buy?  The point is they can.  

Zawya indicated Mubadala has more on their plate.  Mubadala has a potential bond sale before the end of the year.  It also plans to become a top 10 shareholder in GE, currently holding roughly 76 million shares.  Mubadala & GE have an $8 billion commercial finance joint venture based out of Abu Dhabi.  Let's hope it doesn't do a Dubai.