It was a case of third time unlucky for Sidara in its pursuit of Wood Group, the Scottish engineering services giant, today.

Shares in Aberdeen-based Wood surged nearly 5% after it threw out a third takeover approach from its Middle East suitor, which valued the business at £1.52 billion.

Wood, which forged its reputation providing support services for the North Sea oil and gas industry, announced this morning that it had rejected a further unsolicited, preliminary, and conditional proposal from Dubai-based Sidara.

The cash offer of 220p per Wood share represented an increase of around 3.8% on the second proposal of 212p submitted on May 14, which in turn was 3.4% higher than the initial approach of 205p received by the Scottish company on April 30.

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However, it was still not enough for Wood to bite, with the company stating that this latest approach from Sidara also undervalued the business.

Wood said in a statement: “The board, together with its financial advisers, carefully considered the third proposal, in particular, in the context of the board's view of the fundamental prospects of Wood, and concluded that it continued to significantly undervalue the group and its prospects. Accordingly, the board unanimously rejected the third proposal on 23 May 2024.

“There can be no certainty either that an offer will be made or as to the terms on which any offer might be made. Further announcements will be made as appropriate.”

Sidara is one of the world’s largest planning, design, engineering, and project management groups. With around 20,000 employees across 60 countries, it generates nearly half of its revenues in North America.

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Sidara now has until 5pm on June 5, 2023, to announce a firm intention to make a offer for Wood, or walk away, under City takeover rules.

Wood employs around 4,500 people in Aberdeen and its North Sea operations, and a 35,000-strong workforce globally.

The approaches from Sidara comes after the Scottish company was the subject of five takeover proposals from US private equity group Apollo last year. Apollo had been prepared to pay £1.7bn for Wood but ultimately walked away from the bidding process.

Separately, Sparta Capital a significant investor in Wood, declared in April that directors should consider selling the company, stating that it may be the best the way to achieve a fair valuation for the business, after seeing its share price dip to near record lows. Wood's share price has since gradually recovered but remains well adrift of previous highs.

Shares in Wood were trading up 5.11%, or 9.2p, at 189.2p shortly before 4pm.