UK's Petrofac hires Bain & Co to explore options for North Sea business -Times
Dec 11 (Reuters) - British oilfield services company Petrofac Ltd has hired consultancy Bain & Co to explore options for the its North Sea operations, including a sale, the Times reported on Sunday.
Petrofac, which is being investigated by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for its dealings with Monaco-based Unaoil, has been struggling to reduce its $1 billion debt pile.
Petrofac and Bain were not immediately available for comment.
The Telegraph reported last month that U.S. oilfield services companies Schlumberger and Halliburton as well as a Middle Eastern company were among the firms circling Petrofac, with market talk of a bid of around 600 pence per share. (bit.ly/2C27SsY)
Petrofac has lost about half its value since May, when the SFO had commenced an investigation into the company and its units, and has a current market capitalisation of 1.45 billion pounds ($1.94 billion).
Shares of the company were up 1.6 percent at 423.3 pence in early trading. ($1 = 0.7472 pounds) (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)