Wood Group, the troubled London-listed oil services company, is racing to finalise a cut-price takeover by a Gulf-based rival by the end of the month.
Sky News has learnt that Wood and Sidara, its UAE-based suitor, are to request an extension to a ‘put up or shut up’ deadline on Thursday for the latter to make a firm offer.
The joint request to the Takeover Panel, which is expected to be granted, is likely to involve a shorter extension than the maximum 28 days allowed under City rules, reflecting the companies’ confidence that a deal will be agreed.
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Wood and Sidara are aiming to get a binding transaction agreed by 30 June, when a waiver of Wood’s lending covenants is due to expire, according to industry insiders.
A public statement is likely to be made on Thursday.
Sidara tabled a 35p-a-share offer for Wood in April which valued the Aberdeen-based target at just over £242m.
It came less than a year after it proposed a deal worth about £1.5bn, after which Wood’s shares collapsed in the wake of revelations about its past financial results and corporate governance.
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The company’s shares have been suspended since the beginning of last month.
Wood was also the subject of an earlier takeover approach from Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm.
A spokesman for Wood declined to comment.
