An investor hoping to recoup his losses on Golar LNG after the Hygo Energy Transition initial public offering delay tanked its shares has dropped the case.
Daniel Zarabi, who sued the Tor Olav Troim-backed LNG player in September, notified the court he was voluntarily dismissing his lawsuit on Tuesday.
Zarabi had initially sued in the US federal court for the Southern District of New York four days after Hygo's then-chief executive Eduardo Antonello was implicated in a bribery scheme in his native Brazil.
He included the company, Antonello and Golar LNG chief executive Iain Ross as defendants and sought class action status.
Zarabi argued that Golar LNG should have known and disclosed Antonello's alleged bribes, despite the fact the scheme was in place while Antonello worked at a different company.
The news, which broke the same week Hygo was set to complete its $558m spin off from Golar LNG onto New York's Nasdaq, caused shares to plummet by $3.28, or nearly a third, to $6.86.
Hygo, a joint venture between Golar LNG and Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners containing Golar LNG's gas carrier fleet, was expected to push the New York-listed company's valuation as high as $19 per share by some analyst estimations. It was formerly known as Golar Power.
Antonello first took leave, then was replaced in mid-October by Paul Hanrahan.
The alleged bribery took place in 2011, when Antonello was working for a Seadrill joint venture in Brazil. Then, the company was said to have paid $40m in bribes to Petrobras to secure work for its ships.
The investigation is part of the sprawling, six-year-long investigation into corruption at Petrobras known as Operation Car Wash.
At Golar LNG, an internal investigation into Antonello's conduct while employed there cleared him of wrongdoing.
Golar LNG has desired to spin off its shipping arm for nearly two years and on its third-quarter conference call Troim said completing the spin-off was "priority one" and would be done soon.
“We can go any day and you will see us going pretty soon,” he said.
In late trading on Wednesday, Golar LNG shares were up $0.07 to $9.20.
