Arcadis takeover plan sent to Hyder Consulting shareholders for approval
DESIGN and engineering consultancy Hyder Consulting, which has an office in Birmingham, has sent full details of its proposed takeover by Arcadis to shareholders.
Arcadis looked at have won the takeover battle last month when it trumped a rival bid from Japanese consulting firm Nippon Koei Co.
Hyder Consulting had initially agreed a £256.2m deal in July to be acquired by Arcadis. However, it did an about-face when Nippon Koei UK Topco, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Koei Co, raised the stakes with a bid valuing the business at £268.1m.
Not to be outdone, Dutch group Arcadis came back with a revised bid of £288m. This followed its purchase of a 15.6% stake in the Hyder business.
Consequently, Hyder withdrew its recommendation of the offer by Nippon Koei UK in favour of the fresh bid.
Ivor Catto, Hyder chief executive, said the revised bid represented “compelling value” for Hyder shareholders.
It has now recommended that shareholders accept the revised offer from Arcadis.
Approval will be sought at a general meeting of Hyder shareholders, which is set to take place at the London offices of Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co on September 25.
Hyder is one of the world’s longest established engineering consultancies, with a heritage that spans over two centuries. Headquartered in the UK, it operates in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Germany and the UK. It employs approximately 4,500 people globally.
The consultancy has been has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2002, and reported revenues and EBITDA for the year ended March 31, 2014 of £296.8m and £23.6m respectively.
