Petrofac CEO buys £10 million of company's shares amid bribery probe
By Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) - Petrofac Chief Executive Officer Ayman Asfari has acquired 10 million pounds of shares in the oilfield services company, a regulatory filing shows.
Asfari resumed full duties this month after being suspended in the wake of an investigation launched in May by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into Petrofac activities in connection with a probe into Monaco-based Unaoil over suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering.
The company said last month that its top management, including the chairman and executive directors, would be interviewed by the SFO.
Asfari increased his stake in Petrofac from 18 percent to nearly 19 percent after acquiring more than 2 million ordinary shares at 494.113 pence per share, with a total consideration of 10 million pounds, the filing said.
Petrofac's shares dropped sharply after announcement of the investigation and have since recovered slightly as activity in the oil and gas sector has picked up gradually following a three-year downturn.
The company has won a number of new contracts in India and the Middle East in recent weeks
Syrian-born Asfari the largest shareholder in Petrofac, one of the world's largest oilfield services companies with a market capitalisation of about $2.5 billion.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Goodman)
