OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2009. TNK-BP International (TNK-BP) is likely to appoint Maxim Barsky, currently a deputy CEO at the company, to the position of chief executive officer, Vedomosti reported on Thursday. The new appointment could take place at Friday’s Board of Directors, or sometime in December. The company has not commented on this story, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.  

View: From our standpoint, the appointment of Barsky suggests that the AAR consortium has strengthened its role within TNK-BP. Indeed, it could well be that AAR already controls the bulk of key positions in TNK-BP. On Thursday, TNK-BP’s chairman and temporary CEO Mikhail Friedman said in an interview with Interfax that he will step down from his interim position, proffering that the investment community would know the name of the new head of TNK-BP “shortly, very shortly.”

Valuation: TNK-BP Holding’s stock trades at a 30% discount on 2010 P/E to the rest of the energy sector.

Action: We read this impending appointment as neutral for TNK-BP Holding stocks.