G4S backs auction winner Allied Universal in £3.8bn takeover bid, as Gardaworld bows out

Security and outsourcing firm G4S this morning recommended shareholders to vote for Allied Universal’s £3.8bn offer, a day after a rare auction battle with Canada’s Gardaworld.

The decision brings an end to a months-long battle between the two firms to take control of the FTSE 250 company.

In a separate statement, Allied Universal said that the deadline for the 245p per share offer had been extended to 16 March.

It added that the acceptance condition was lowered to 75 per cent in nominal value and voting rights of G4S shares from 90 per cent earlier. 

Shares in G4S were flat at the open, having fallen 10 per cent yesterday after GardaWorld decided not to raise its 235p per share offer for G4S.

As a result, the head to head auction, which had attracted a lot of attention, ended almost as soon as it began.

But due to the at times acrimonious contest for the company, G4S’ shares have risen around 80 per cent since September.

The management of G4S had already agreed to the offer from Allied, which valued the company at £3.8bn, but its shareholders had held off approving numerous extensions of both offers in the hope of a better deal.

Allied’s acquisition creates an even larger private security firm with more than 750,000 people employed worldwide as the U.S. firm expands outside of North America.

GardaWorld said ahead of the result that it would bid no higher in the auction, which represented a relatively rare conclusion to a British takeover battle.