PETROFAC could face shareholder action after it emerged that litigation funder Bentham Ventures was contemplating funding legal proceedings to recover losses linked to the investigation into the oil service group by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

Petrofac last week suspended its chief operating officer after the SFO launched an investigation in connection with a probe into Monaco-based Unaoil.

Bentham Europe’s chief investment officer Jeremy Marshall said the company had been in touch with Petrofac’s top 40 shareholders, and would wait to see how the SFO investigation progresses.