Arcadis ups offer for Hyder to £296m in bid to seal deal

摘要

Dutch giant Arcadis has upped its offer to buy Hyder to £40m more than its original bid for the UK engineer, in a move aimed at ensuring the deal goes ahead. Arcadis has been locked in a bidding war for Hyder with Japanese firm Nippon Koei and last week it announced it had upped its offer for Hyder to £296m. The offer represented a £40m increase on Arcadis' original £256m offer made in July, and comes despite the firm's second offer of £288m for Hyder, made in August, being hailed by City analysts as a "technical knockout" in the battle for the firm. The latest rise in price was driven by Arcadis' purchase of 3,734,808 Hyder shares from a single shareholder, which accounted for nearly 10% of the firm's shares, for £7.50 a share. Under stock market regulations it is now obliged to offer the same price for the remaining shares and has accordingly upped its overall offer.