Administrators to Petrofac are racing to secure a sale of the company’s profitable North Sea operations before Christmas.
Sky News says Teneo — overseeing Petrofac’s insolvency — “received a handful of bids for its profitable UK business late last week”.
City sources told Sky the administrators want to “sign a deal with a purchaser before the end of the year”.
Petrofac, once a FTSE-100 giant, collapsed into administration in October after a major European customer cancelled a key contract.
Insiders told Sky News the shortlist of bidders for the UK arm has been reduced “from a field of dozens to roughly five”.
The company, which designs, constructs and operates offshore equipment for energy firms, has been battling heavy debts and was fined more than $100million in 2021 following a Serious Fraud Office bribery case.
Sky News also reports that sale processes for Petrofac’s other businesses, including in the Middle East, are expected to begin in the new year.
A spokesman for the administrators declined to comment.