Hyder agrees to 288 mln sterling Arcadis takeover offer

Integrated Design & Engineering Holdings Co

21/08/2014 17:48

LONDON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Hyder Consulting  HYC.L , the 
British engineering firm at the centre of a bidding war, said it 
was recommending a raised offer from Dutch firm Arcadis 
 ARDS.AS  and abandoning a deal with Japan's Nippon Koei 
 1954.T . 
    Hyder said on Thursday it had agreed a cash offer of 730 
pence per share from engineering group Arcadis which valued the 
British company at 288 million pounds ($477.8 million).  
    Hyder is a design and engineering consultancy which has 
worked on structures including Sydney Harbour Bridge and the 
world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai.  
    Arcadis approached Hyder in July with a proposal worth 650 
pence per share. Nippon Koei then made an offer at 680 pence per 
share.  ID:nL6N0QE1JD   
    Hyder said it had now withdrawn its earlier recommendation 
of the Japanese offer. 
    The Dutch group said it had already acquired 15.6 percent of 
Hyder's shares at the higher offer price, which represented a 
premium of 57.4 percent to the volume weighted average price of 
Hyder shares during the three months to July 30, 2014. 
 
(1 US dollar = 0.6028 British pound) 
 
 (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by David Clarke) 
 ((sarah.young@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 20 7542 1109)(Reuters 
Messaging: sarah.young.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: HYDER ARCADIS/MERGERS