(Reuters) – British oil major BP Plc raised $12 billion of debt with equity-like features, taking advantage of low interest rates to fortify its balance sheet, the Financial Times (FT) reported https://www.ft.com/content/6213ac92-9d7b-41da-9353-a2be17a37a96 on Wednesday.
The report of the fundraising comes days after BP decided to write off up to $17.5 billion from the value of its assets, betting the COVID-19 crisis would pressure energy demand and accelerate a shift away from fossil fuels.
The oil company raised $5 billion, 4.75 billion euros ($5.34 billion) and 1.25 billion pounds, the FT said, adding that BP locked in annual interest rates as low as 3.25% on some of its new euro notes.
BP had previously never raised money by issuing hybrid bonds, which place less of a strain on the balance sheet because the principal never has to be repaid, the newspaper said.
BP did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
