Albert Manifold, the recently dismissed chairman of BP, met on multiple occasions with activist shareholder Elliott Management while serving as chair without directly notifying other board members, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Those previously unreported interactions form part of the concerns that contributed to the company's decision to remove him this week after a tenure of under eight months.
BP's board cited matters of governance and conduct in announcing Manifold's dismissal. The decision sent BP shares lower and undermined management's efforts to show investors that leadership turbulence had been contained. Manifold had been brought in last year to help rebuild investor confidence after a period of shifting strategy and leadership and a heavy debt load. He replaced Helge Lund, who had lost shareholder support prior to his departure.
The meetings between Manifold and Elliott were described by one of the two sources as not technically violating any specific rule, and not the principal ground for his dismissal. Rather, those meetings were presented as an instance of acting independently of the board and not in good faith toward other directors. According to a source with knowledge of the matter, Manifold did notify BP's investor relations team that he had met with Elliott several times. That source emphasised that such shareholder interactions should have been included in routine investor relations updates to the board.
In addition to the undisclosed meetings with the activist investor, the board had received complaints about bullying behaviour directed at both senior executives and more junior staff, the sources said. Those complaints reportedly alarmed the board and contributed to the cumulative assessment of Manifold's suitability to remain as chairman.
An activist hedge fund disclosed last year that it held over a 5% stake in BP, according to information disclosed previously by Elliott Management. The activist has publicly urged BP to cut costs, reallocate spending from some renewable projects back toward oil and gas, and simplify its organisational structure, sources have told Reuters over the past year. Manifold had pushed to accelerate changes in line with many of those priorities, and BP has implemented most of those changes in recent months.
Requests for comment to Elliott Management went unanswered. BP declined to expand on prior statements about Manifold's conduct when questioned about how information on shareholder meetings is expected to be reported within the company. A spokesperson for Manifold did not provide a formal comment on the meetings with Elliott.
Manifold has publicly said his dismissal was unexpected, that he disputes the portrayal of his conduct, and that he intends to challenge what he described as a "false narrative" about his time at the company. In a statement issued on Thursday, he acknowledged that in his determination to push changes on costs, performance, the balance sheet and shareholder communications, he may have driven hard and challenged people directly. He added that he would not accept lies about him or that anonymous critics should be allowed to comment without accountability.
Following his dismissal, Manifold retained law firm Mishcon de Reya to represent him, a source previously told Reuters. A spokesperson for Manifold declined to comment on Thursday about whether he planned to take any action against BP.
Company sources told Reuters that Manifold had been aggressive in his interactions across the organisation, which rendered his continuance as chairman untenable. His departure marks the third abrupt or forced exit among senior BP leaders in three years, following the exits of former CEOs Bernard Looney and Murray Auchincloss. That sequence of senior departures has raised investor questions about BP's capacity to execute a turnaround strategy that had only recently begun to regain investor support.
BP has appointed Ian Tyler as interim chairman. The company has not provided further public detail beyond the reasons cited for Manifold's removal and its announcement of the interim appointment.
Market reaction and broader context
The company said governance and conduct concerns were the basis for the move to remove Manifold. Market observers noted that the dismissal came at a delicate time for the company as it attempts to stabilise leadership and complete strategic changes that senior management and some significant shareholders have advocated. The immediate fall in BP's share price following the announcement highlighted investor sensitivity to executive turnover and governance issues.
Next steps
BP's board has installed an interim chairman while the company assesses longer-term leadership options. Manifold's pursuit of legal advice indicates potential disputes to come, though no formal actions by him against the company were confirmed in the available reporting. Both the allegations of bullying and the accounts of isolated meetings with an activist shareholder were cited by sources as part of the cumulative rationale for his dismissal.