SBM Offshore Reaches Settlement in Brazil Corruption Probe

SBM Offshore has reached a settlement in a long-running corruption investigation it faced in Brazil, allowing the Dutch marine engineering group to take up new business there.

SBM said late on Thursday it would pay approximately $189 million to the Brazilian authorities and state oil company Petrobras in fines and compensation for damages.

The company would not receive earlier agreed performance bonuses worth about $180 million in the period until 2030, it said.

The agreement would end all anti-corruption investigations against SBM in Brazil and would allow it to participate again in Petrobras tenders, the company said.

SBM was accused of paying bribes to government officials to secure contracts with Petrobras, which has been at the centre of Brazil's largest corruption scandal amid investigations into a political kickback scheme involving contractors.

Two former SBM executives pleaded guilty in November to U.S. charges that they participated in a scheme to bribe officials at three foreign state-run oil companies, including Petrobras.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer Editing by Edmund Blair)