Tesco legal firm may aid Petrofac investors

The firm which bankrolled legal action against Tesco is considering funding shareholders nursing heavy losses from the fraud probe into oilfield services outfit Petrofac, it emerged today.

Shares in the FTSE 250 company have halved in a month since it confirmed it was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office as part of its probe into Monaco-based Unaoil.

Bentham Ventures, which is owned by US hedge fund Elliott Advisors, said it was contemplating funding legal proceedings against Petrofac.

“The alleged grounds of the proposed litigation are expected to be that Petrofac issued false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose material information regarding its business, its performance and prospects, and/or otherwise misled shareholders and/or concealed the conduct,” Bentham said on its website.

It funded claimants in Tesco’s £100 million accounting scandal and financed large claims against Volkswagen after it was found to have rigged emissions tests.

Last week, Petrofac suspended its chief operating officer after he was arrested with the chief executive and revealed the SFO “does not consider the company to have co-operated with it”.