Defence giant BAE System said it will plead guilty to two criminal charges and pay £286 million in fines to settle corruption claims in the UK and US.
The settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and US Department of Justice (DoJ) follows long-running probes into its business dealings across the world.
BAE will pay 400 million US dollars (£255.7 million) to the DoJ and plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to make false statements to the US government.
The charge relates to its US regulatory filings in the Czech Republic and Hungary, and its conduct in the US over the mammoth £43 billion Al-Yamamah contract with Saudi Arabia.
BAE will also pay £30 million in the UK for failing to keep "reasonably accurate" accounting records over activities in Tanzania - the SFO's largest settlement with a UK company.
The company paid 12 million dollars (£7.7 million) to a marketing adviser in Tanzania in connection with the sale of a radar system in 1999.
The settlement comes four months after the SFO asked the Attorney General to pursue bribery allegations against BAE over its business dealings. The SFO's own probe into Al-Yamamah was dropped in 2006 after intervention by then prime minister Tony Blair.
BAE said the settlement would allow it to "deal finally with significant legacy issues" which have overshadowed the company. Chairman Dick Olver said the SFO had looked at the affair in a "very serious and pragmatic way" and the settlement would help the firm draw a "very heavy line" under the corruption claims.
Following BAE's settlement, the SFO said it was "no longer in the public interest to continue the investigation into the conduct of individuals".
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A Government spokesman said: "It is right that these historical allegations have been addressed. We understand that full details of the settlement terms in both jurisdictions have not yet been made public, pending court proceedings in the coming weeks to finalise the settlements. It would be inappropriate to comment any further at this point."
