Sete Brasil settlement will enable Keppel, SembMarine to move on

Singapore

SINGAPORE's giant rigbuilders Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) are poised to put the pain arising from Brazil's corruption saga behind them after pulling off settlement deals on multi-billion dollar frozen rig jobs.

The settlement with troubled Sete Brasil, which follows four years of overhang that had hurt the rig builders as they made hefty provisions, has now sparked hopes of potential write-backs and order-book upsides.

"Brazilian rigs set free", said a report by CIMB-CGS analyst Lim Siew Khee released shortly after the announcement by Keppel on Monday that wholly-owned Keppel Offshore & Marine will take ownership of fou…