Seatrium falls by nearly 4% as Keppel’s arbitration for claim in Brazil corruption case begins

Shares of Seatrium fell by close to 4 per cent in early trade on Wednesday (Aug 27), a day after news broke that Keppel will begin arbitration proceedings against the offshore marine and energy solutions company for a S$68.4 million claim.

The counter fell 3.9 per cent to S$2.24 one minute after trading started, before paring some losses to S$2.29 by 9.14 am. It then started declining again, first to S$2.28 at 10.33 am, then to S$2.27 at 10.52am, down 2.6 per cent or S$0.06 from its opening price of S$2.33 after 7.7 million shares changed hands.

Shares of Keppel, meanwhile, opened slightly higher at S$8.37, before rising to S$8.44 by 11.05 am, up 1.1 per cent of S$0.09 from its opening price of S$8.35 after 1.8 million shares were transacted.

Keppel’s claim is related to Brazil’s crackdown on corruption, named Operation Car Wash.

In 2022, Seatrium had made provisions of S$82.4 million to indemnify Keppel against claims related to Operation Car Wash. This was the same year Keppel Offshore & Marine merged with Seatrium, which was then known as Sembcorp Marine.

Seatrium said in July that it was required to pay 728.9 million reals (S$168.4 million) to the Brazilian authorities, as part of leniency agreements related to the probe.

In a Tuesday bourse filing, Keppel said the S$68.4 million sum was due from Seatrium upon the latter’s signing of its final leniency agreements, under the terms of the indemnity.

Seatrium’s ex-dividend date was May 6, 2025, for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2024. In July, it posted a 301.3 per cent year-on-year surge in net profit to S$144.4 million for its first half ended Jun 30, 2025. No dividend was declared, as was the case for the corresponding period a year earlier.