Petrofac looks for new chairman after rocky year

Struggling oil and gas engineer Petrofac will draft in a new chairman next year in the wake of a turbulent spell which has seen the company halve in value in the past 12 months.

Rijnhard van Tets, who has led the board through a collapse in crude prices that rocked the business and a Serious Fraud Office probe, will give way to senior independent director Rene Medori at May’s annual meeting.

Van Tets has served on the board for 10 years, putting him beyond the nine-year limit on board appointments proposed under corporate governance reforms.

But the 70-year-old is likely to leave the FTSE 250 firm with the cloud of the SFO investigation still hanging over the business, related to its dealings with Monaco-based Unaoil.

Chief executive Ayman Asfari was interviewed under caution this year and the chief operating officer was suspended over the probe, which comes after the watchdog launched a criminal investigation into Unaoil in connection with suspected bribery, corruption and money laundering in July 2016.

The Petrofac board set up a new compliance and ethics board in August.

The shares dropped 7.8p to 447.5p, or 2%, compared with a price above 900p a year ago.