Until it was purchased by Seadrill, Sevan Marine ASA (Sevan Marine) designed, engineered and project managed cylinder floating platforms for offshore production and drilling. Located in Norway, its stock is listed on the OTC market.
After press reports of Sevan Marine's possible involvement in the Petrobras corruption scandal surfaced in 2015, the company initiated an internal investigation into the matter, which it disclosed in a press release on June 29, 2015. Sevan hired the law firm Selmer to conduct the investigation, which ultimately focused on contracts executed in Brazil between 2005 and 2008 by former wholly-owned Sevan subsidiary Sevan Drilling and former manager and agent Raul Schmidt Felippe Junior.
Selmer found that it is more likely than not that improper payments had been made to obtain business with Petrobras. Several transactions were suspicious, including indications of neglect of Sevan's affairs and/or conflicts of interest, and these transactions may have risen to the level of economic crimes in Norway and elsewhere. By the time of the investigation, individuals identified in the misconduct had left the company. Based on the findings of the investigation, the Board of Directors handed the Report to the Norwegian authorities, and the company made preliminary contact with the relevant authorities in the U.S., U.K., and Brazil.
Between the time of the misconduct and the investigation, Sevan Marine restructured itself, partially divesting itself of Sevan Drilling. Seadrill Limited initially purchased a minority stake in Sevan Drilling and later raised it to a majority stake. According to Seadrill's most recent 20-F filing, Sevan Marine is also a majority-owned subsidiary of Seadrill.
In its 6-K filed on September 27, 2018, Seadrill disclosed that the Norwegian authorities had closed their investigation into Sevan Drilling and all charges in Norway were dismissed on May 24, 2018. Neither Sevan nor Seadrill ever disclosed an investigation by the DOJ or SEC, despite the self-reporting of the findings of its internal investigation, so it seems likely that the DOJ and SEC never opened formal investigations into the company. Thus, this investigation is likely concluded.
