Carillion gives up pursuit of merger with Balfour Beatty

摘要

Carillion has ended its chase for Balfour Beatty. The company gave up after Balfour rejected its third merger proposal on the day before Carillion had to "put up or shut up" (PUSU). Under stock market rules apart from in exceptional circumstances, Carillion is prohibited from trying again for six months. Brokers had not expected Carillion to announce another offer before the deadline, and sources said it did not have the firepower to go hostile. Carillion's "improved" merger proposal would have secured Balfour shareholders 58.3% of the combined entity, compared with 56.5% under the previous offer on August 11.