Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) will sell back its 70 per cent stake in plant construction and engineering business Ferrostaal to German truckmaker MAN in a deal that ends a year-long dispute.

As per the deal, German truckmaker MAN will then sell the unit in its entirety to the MPC Group based in Hamburg, the German industrial company said on Monday.

The agreement will help prevent further related losses and remove the last remaining legal risks for shareholders from a bribery scandal that rocked the group.

'This settlement is the outcome of very good cooperation between both shareholders, and enables IPIC and MAN to finally put their differences aside,' said IPIC's managing director, Khadem Al Qubaisi, in a statement published by MAN.

MAN had sold 70 per cent of Ferrostaal to IPIC in March 2009, exercising a put option for the remaining 30 per cent at the beginning of 2010 in a deal that had valued the entire unit at around 700 million euros ($929 million).

An ensuing scandal over bribery payments made by a large number of MAN's former businesses including Ferrostaal and the legal fines that resulted prompted IPIC to renege on the deal entirely, triggering a bitter dispute that has raged ever since over who should fund the company's operations.

MAN said in a statement it would pay 350 million euros to buy back the Ferrostaal shares from IPIC, only to then immediately unload the subsidiary onto MPC for a price of up to 160 million euros with closing expected in the first quarter.

A spokesman for MAN said the sale would be reflected in the accounts for the current fourth quarter, but would not lead to any earnings hit: 'Provisions already booked this year were sufficient to cover the risks.'

Ferrostaal, a plant construction and engineering business, had in October agreed to a 149 million fine linked to the bribery charges.

'Ferrostaal still has to pay the fine to the prosecutor's office, but that is a matter for the owner MPC, and is no longer relevant for us,' the MAN spokesman said.

Shares in MAN, a maker of trucks and large diesel engines, traded 5.1 per cent higher as of 1212 GMT, outperforming peers Scania and Volvo, which rose 4.1 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively.-Reuters