UK's Petrofac hires Bain & Co to explore options for North Sea business - Times

(Reuters) - British oilfield services company Petrofac Ltd (PFC.L) has hired consultancy Bain & Co to explore options for the its North Sea operations, including a sale, the Times reported on Sunday.

Petrofac, which is being investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for its dealings with Monaco-based Unaoil, has been struggling to reduce its $1 billion debt pile.

Petrofac and Bain were not immediately available for comment.

The Telegraph reported last month that U.S. oilfield services companies Schlumberger (SLB.N) and Halliburton (HAL.N) as well as a Middle Eastern company were among the firms circling Petrofac, with market talk of a bid of around 600 pence per share. (http://bit.ly/2C27SsY)

Petrofac has lost about half its value since May, when the SFO had commenced an investigation into the company and its units, and has a current market capitalisation of 1.45 billion pounds ($1.94 billion).

Shares of the company were up 1.6 percent at 423.3 pence in early trading.

($1 = 0.7472 pounds)

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)