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Costain鈥檚 boss and chairman have defended the firm鈥檚 failed bid for services provider May Gurney, after being trumped by Kier鈥檚 proposed takeover deal.

In a video interview published on the firm鈥檚 website (watch below), Costain non-executive chairman David Allvey said he believed Costain鈥檚 拢178m merger deal, agreed with the May Gurney board last month, 鈥渞eflected the value of the business following several months of due diligence鈥�.

Yesterday Costain said it would not be submitting a revised bid for May Gurney, after Kier announced on Wednesday that it had agreed a 拢221m takeover deal with the May Gurney board with a 315p offer that outbid Costain by 35%.

鈥淲e believe the offer we made fully reflected the value of the business and we have concluded that we will not increase that offer,鈥� Allvey said.

Costain鈥檚 withdrawal will come as a blow for the firm鈥檚 chief executive Andrew Wyllie (pictured), after the firm also failed in a bid for Mouchel in 2011. Then Costain tabled four bids of increasing value after repeated knock-backs, only to see its prospective partner solicit a deal with rival Interserve.

In the interview, Wyllie said the acquisition of May Gurney could have been an important step in Costain鈥檚 strategy, but 鈥渘ot at any cost鈥�. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very mindful of value and will not do a deal for the sake of it. Any deal we do has to be right for the business and right for out stakeholders,鈥� he said.

But he did not rule out future acquisitions, saying Costain would 鈥渃ontinue to develop the business both organically and by acquisitions鈥�.

Asked if they were disappointed by the failed bid, Allvey said: 鈥淣o, let鈥檚 be clear, we have strict disciplines at Costain and that gives us our success.

鈥淲e had a plan and we had a price for May Gurney and there was no way we were prepared to compromise on that approach - indeed, if we were to alter that approach I鈥檓 pretty sure our shareholders would be the ones to be disappointed.鈥�

Wyllie said the firm had 鈥渢aken a great deal of the last few months鈥�. 鈥淔ive years ago Costain wouldn鈥檛 have been in a position to make such a move and during the process we鈥檝e heard time and time again how well Costain is regarded and is a leading player in our industry,鈥� he said.