£2bn oil deal dragged into international bribery probe
THE £2bn takeover of two North Sea oil firms has been dragged into a major corruption probe just 24 hours after details of its deal were unveiled.
Wood Group’s swoop for Amec Foster Wheeler could be under threat after it was revealed it had ties to a Monaco-based engineering and construction group suspected of fraud, bribery and money-laundering.
The Serious Fraud Office has been investigating the company, Unaoil, since July 2016 along with several of its alleged clients.
Now it has emerged that Amec has handed information about dealings involving Unaoil to the SFO, and is cooperating with Unaoil investigations in the US.
A Wood Group internal probe has found one of its joint ventures made payments to Unaoil. It says its probe has uncovered no connection to corruption.
Amec thinks the SFO’s interest may develop into a further investigation, according to the small print of the deal.
Shareholders are due to vote on the takeover next month. A prosecution could result in heavy fines.
The takeover prospectus warns: ‘Any violation of legal and regulatory requirements identified during the course of these investigations could have a material adverse effect on the business, results of operations and financial condition of the Wood Group and, if the combination completes, the combined group.’
The SFO has widened its investigation into Unaoil, and this month turned its sights on international oil services provider Petrofac whose chief executive, Ayman Asfari, and chief operating officer, Marwan Chedid, have been questioned.
Swiss robotics multinational ABB and US engineering giant KBR have also disclosed they are part of the probe.
But Amec’s and Wood Group’s involvement in the case had been under the radar until now. The bid by Wood Group to snap up heavily-indebted Amec will create an energy services giant worth £5bn, employing more than 64,000 people globally.
Yet it is expected to result in around 1,280 jobs being cut as Wood Group strips out around £165m from the combined group.
Both companies provide maintenance and engineering work to oil and gas platforms around the world and have been hammered by falling oil prices.
Bosses are in line for a potential windfall from the sale, with Wood Group’s £5.64 per share offer, a 28.7pc premium on the average price over the previous days.
Former chief executive Samir Brikho, 59, could make £11m and chief financial officer Ian McHoul, 57, at least £1.8m.
An Amec spokesman said: ‘The company takes its obligation to conduct business ethically very seriously and has in place a robust code of conduct and anti-bribery and corruption policy.’ Wood Group declined to comment.
But its prospectus says: ‘From the information reviewed to date the internal investigation has not confirmed that the payments made by the joint venture to Unaoil were used by Unaoil in ways that would amount to bribery, corruption or money-laundering offences, or that there was any involvement in or knowledge of bribery, corruption or moneylaundering offences on the part of Wood Group companies, the joint venture or their personnel.’ Unaoil denies wrongdoing. KBR and ABB have said they are cooperating with authorities.