Private equity fund Apollo Global Management is set to bid £1.66 billion for engineering business the John Wood Group, after it rejected a number of lower offers, but promised that this will be its last approach.
Apollo had already submitted four previous bids, including a 237p per share offer, for the London-listed Wood. However, all of these have been rebuffed, with Wood saying the last one “continued to undervalue the group”.
But after “careful consideration”, Apollo said it would submit one last bid, worth 240p per share. That would value Wood - which offers engineering services to a number of sectors including the energy and materials industries - at £1.66 billion
“Apollo believes that the final proposal would provide a compelling opportunity for Wood's shareholders to monetise their holdings in Wood for cash at a highly attractive valuation which is also at a significant premium to its recent and undisturbed share price, eliminating the inevitable execution risk and uncertainty associated with delivering Wood's refreshed strategy,” the New York-based private equity firm said.
“Apollo looks forward to engaging constructively with the board of Wood to finalise the terms.”
When debt is included, the deal would value Wood at more than $5 billion, which would make it easily the biggest merger of the year if approved.
