BP eyes stake sale as spill cost tops $3 billion

Over the weekend, while U.S. Independence Day holidaymakers shunned Gulf of Mexico beaches tarred by the leaking well, media reports said BP was looking for a strategic investor among the sovereign wealth funds of the Middle East and Asia.
An investor would help ward off a takeover and raise funds for the liabilities racking up behind the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the reports said.

BP shares rose 2.4 percent in London to 329.65 pence at 5:48 a.m. ET after the reports, but some shareholders balked at the idea of a strategic investor.