Wood Group likely to recommend takeover sparking delisting fears
London-listed engineering and consulting firm Wood Group said it is likely to recommend a takeover by Middle Eastern-based privately owned company Sidara sparking another potential delisting from the London Stock Exchange.
Wood said on Monday that Sidara, formerly known as Dar Al-Handasah, had expressed interest in acquiring the group with a 35p per share deal.
The offer is yet to become offical, with Sidara given until August 25 2025 to make a formal offer of acquisition.
Should the takeover go ahead it would mark another bruising delisting for the London Stock Exchange.
Recent months have seen foreign giants swoop on British bargains, as analysts cited the undervaluing of UK stocks.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), warned last month: “There is this question around how attractive UK companies have become, particularly to US buyers.”
Wood’s bruising start to year
To facilitate the potential takeover, Wood Group and Sidara are progressing a refinancing strategy under their “commercial alignment,” which aims to extend Wood’s debt maturities and strengthen its financial position.
The arrangement includes providing Wood a longer duration to repay existing debts – through extending them until 2028 – and providing $250m in new funding from Sidara.
But a number of Wood’s lenders are yet to agree to the proposal despite key parts of the proposal being ironed out.
Wood has said without full support it would use a legal process in Scotland, known as scheme of arrangement, which allows it to make changes to its debt, even if some creditors do not approve.
The offer is not yet firm or binding but Wood’s board has indicated that they would be inclined to recommend it to shareholders if all terms are agreed.
Wood Group’s shares soared following a £242m bid from Sidara in April.
The firm was up over 13 per cent as it clawed back gains on a torrid start to the year.
A Deloitte review in February found “material weakness and failures” across Wood’s business and it has delayed publishing its financial result for 2024 after information was withheld from auditors.
Sidara said in April it had made significant progress in its due diligence on Wood, including in relation to the points raised in the review, according to a statement on the London Stock Exchange.
Wood Group was relegated from the FTSE 250 index in March 2025.