黑洞社区

Arcadis expects to complete its purchase of UK engineer Hyder on 16 October - providing there is no last minute counter bid from its Japanese rival Nippon Koei.

Arcadis looks to have won out in its bidding war with Nippon Koei to acquire Hyder, after offering 拢7.30 per Hyder share last month, valuing the firm at 拢288m. This offer represents a 7.4% premium over Nippon Koei鈥檚 deal earlier in the month to acquire Hyder for 拢268m, and is 13% above Arcadis鈥� original 拢256m bid.

Hyder has published a timetable for closing the deal with Arcadis this morning, which proposes a general meeting for shareholders to vote on the proposed Arcadis takeover on 25 September, with a High Court hearing to legally approve the deal to follow on the same day.

If the deal is approved as planned, Hyder shares will suspend trading on the London stock exchange on 15 October, prior to the deal closing the following day.

But Nippon Koei has still not ruled out a further counter-bid for Hyder.

Hyder鈥檚 shares have traded above Arcadis鈥� 拢7.30 offer price ever since the improved deal was announced - indicating the market is pricing in a potential counter-bid from Nippon Koei - and climbed a further 4p in early trading this morning to 拢7.41.

Nippon Koei issued a statement last month saying it noted Arcadis鈥� improved offer and 鈥渋s considering its position and will make a further announcement in due course鈥�.

Hyder is working on London鈥檚 Crossrail project (pictured).