BP `Aware' of Chinese Fund Holding, Welcomes All Shareholders

April 15 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc knows that a shareholding has been taken in the company by a Chinese sovereign fund and welcomes all shareholders.

``We're aware of the Chinese shareholding and we welcome all shareholders,'' David Nicholas, a London-based spokesman for BP, said. He declined to comment further.

A Chinese sovereign fund has bought just under 1 percent of BP, giving it a stake worth about 1 billion pounds ($1.97 billion), the Daily Telegraph reported on its Web site.

The fund purchased the holding in BP, which is the U.K.'s biggest company with a market capitalization of 104 billion pounds, over a period of time, the Telegraph said, without being more specific.

The U.K. government is aware of the stake-building by the fund, and is understood to be monitoring the situation closely, the Telegraph said, citing unidentified people in banking.

The Kuwait Investment Authority is among several other sovereign funds from other countries to also hold shares in BP, the Telegraph said, without saying where it got its information.

The holding in London-based BP follows news of a Chinese state-owned fund acquiring a stake in France's Total SA, which is Europe's third-largest oil company.

``To our knowledge the latest numbers that we have indicate the stake is just under 1.3 percent,'' Total Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie told reporters on April 10 at an oil conference in Paris.

Total has also held talks with sovereign funds from the Gulf states which may or may not already have stakes in the Paris- based oil company, De Margerie said. Total would like state- controlled funds to own not more than 3 percent of outstanding shares.