OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2009. TNK-BP International’s chairman Mikhail Friedman will retain the position of ‘temporary’ CEO until 2011, the Financial Times and Vedomosti reported. Maxim Barsky, thought by many as the most likely candidate to replace him, will continue in the role of a Deputy CEO, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation.

View: As long as Friedman heads TNK-BP we are unlikely to see negative changes in company strategy. From our standpoint, consideration of an IPO will probably be postponed until another CEO takes the helm. We assume that TNK-BP Holding will remain a publicly traded subsidiary of TNK-BP, as the parent company has no plans to delist TNK-BP Holding’s stocks. Furthermore, the dividend policy of TNK-BP Holding is likely to remain unchanged.

Valuation: TNK-BP Holding’s 2010 P/E amounts to 4.6x, and the stock trades at a 34% discount on P/E to the rest of the energy sector.

Action: This news is marginally positive for TNK-BP Holding’s common and preferred stocks.