- Sidara has made a new offer, valuing Wood Group at around £1.6 billion
- It represents a 52% premium to Wood’s closing price on April 29
Engineering and consultancy firm Sidara has increased its bid for John Wood Group for the third and final time.
The Dubai-based company has submitted a proposal at 230 pence per share, valuing the Scottish oilfield services giant at around £1.6 billion.
It represents a 52 percent premium to Wood’s closing price on April 29, the day before Sidara unveiled its initial offer for the company.
Takeover target: Engineering firm Sidara has submitted a proposal at 230 pence per share, valuing oilfield services giant John Wood Group at around £1.6 billion
Wood rejected Sidara’s initial 205 pence per share approach and two subsequent offers worth 212 pence and 220 pence per share respectively, saying they undervalued the company and its future prospects.
Bosses at the FTSE 250 company said they would discuss the proposal with financial advisers and make a further announcement later.
Under city rules, Sidara has until June 5 at 5 p.m. to make a concrete offer or walk away, although Wood and the takeover panel could extend that deadline.
Sidara said her latest proposal “does not amount to a firm intention to make a bid under the code, and there is no assurance that a bid will ultimately be made.”
John Wood Group Shares were 2.9 percent, or 12.3p, lower at 184.8p on Wednesday afternoon.
The move for Wood comes amid a renewed wave of takeover activity involving London-listed companies, which are considered undervalued compared to their global peers.
Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services has accepted a £3.2 billion offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who has significant stakes in supermarket chain Sainsbury’s and West Ham United football club.
Kretinsky has pledged to maintain Royal Mail’s headquarters and tax residence in Britain, as well as its universal service obligation, branding and protection of employee benefits and pensions.
Meanwhile, Anglo American has rejected a £39 billion deal from BHP, £8 billion higher than the Australian mining giant’s initial offer, and rejected calls to extend the deadline for takeover talks.
Should the deal go through, it would mark the largest mining sector acquisition in history and increase BHP’s exposure to copper, a key element in environmentally friendly technologies such as electric vehicle batteries and solar panels.
Other companies to have rejected major takeover bids in recent months include car insurer Direct Line and trading platform Hargreaves Lansdown.
But many have accepted proposals, including cyber security specialist Darktrace, packaging group DS Smith, transport company Wincanton and telecoms testing company Spirent Communications.