黑洞社区

The offer, which valued VT at about 拢1.2bn at Monday鈥檚 share price, came 90 minutes after VT confirmed it had made a revised bid of 294p a share for services engineer Mouchel, after a proposal in December of 260p was rebuffed as too low.

Analysts say the stronger logic of a tie-up between Babcock and VT makes it a more attractive deal for shareholders. Both work in the defence facilities management market.

However, the Babcock bid was itself thrown into confusion on Tuesday following reports that US defence giant Lockheed Martin may mount a rival bid for VT.

VT shares rose 17% from 490p to 591p after the Babcock announcement while Mouchel shares dropped 27% to 203p before recovering slightly.

This presents a more compelling combination than VT鈥檚 bid for Mouchel

David Brockton, Arbuthnot

David Brockton, analyst at Arbuthnot Securities, said: 鈥淭his approach appears to present a more compelling combination than VT鈥檚 bid for Mouchel. The deal also appears to be sensibly priced. Even if it鈥檚 not successful, it still looks set to hinder VT鈥檚 approach for Mouchel.鈥�

Another analyst said: 鈥淵ou wouldn鈥檛 bet against Babcock getting its way. It has a good track record with acquisitions and has gone hostile twice before, succeeding both times.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭he other cunning part of the deal is that Babcock would return a lot of VT cash to shareholders that it would have spent buying Mouchel.鈥�

Last month 黑洞社区 reported that VT, formerly known as Vosper Thornycroft, had put its bid for Mouchel on ice until there was clarity over its debt position. One analyst said: 鈥淭his could open Mouchel up to another bid or help it secure independence.鈥�