A US private equity firm has agreed to postpone a disputed deal to sell its stake in a large gas driller to one of its own funds, after a large Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund sued to block the transaction. 

Houston-based Energy & Minerals Group has consented to delay the planned sale of a 30 per cent stake in Ascent Resources, one of the largest private natural gas drillers in the US, to one of its sister funds after the Abu Dhabi Investment Council alleged the deal short-changed investors.

The lawsuit, reported exclusively by the Financial Times on Wednesday, asked for an emergency halt to EMG’s planned sale of its Ascent stake to a new so-called continuation fund managed by the PE group by the end of the year. The two parties agreed on Thursday morning to delay the transaction until at least late February, after it is vetted by a commercial arbiter, they said in a motion approved by a Delaware court.