Shareholder Approval and Deal Progress

Shareholders of the UK contractor Wood have overwhelmingly approved a £216 million takeover bid from the United Arab Emirates engineering firm Sidara, with approximately 90% voting in favor. This approval was a critical condition for the acquisition to proceed and has triggered an immediate 10.18% surge in Wood's share price. The transaction is anticipated to be finalized in the first half of 2026.

Financial Terms and Capital Injection

The approved Sidara bid offers 30 pence per Wood share, a revision from an initial proposal of 35 pence per share made in April. This final offer value is also substantially lower than a £2 billion approach Sidara had initially considered in 2024. As a direct result of the shareholder vote, Wood is now permitted to access the first $200 million of a $450 million cash injection pledged by Sidara. The remaining $250 million will become available upon the completion of the acquisition.

Company Challenges and Rationale for the Deal

Wood's board had strongly recommended the Sidara offer, citing an "unsustainable" capital structure and "limited" liquidity to fund ongoing operations. The company faced "significant challenges in accessing new sources of capital" without a comprehensive refinancing. The board concluded that any alternative refinancing option would likely generate materially less, or potentially zero, value for shareholders compared to the Sidara acquisition. This financial strain was further highlighted last month when Wood requested shareholders to temporarily suspend the company’s borrowing limit after its 2024 audited accounts revealed that borrowings would exceed the limit, an event that would have had "serious and adverse implications" for its debt facilities and risked jeopardizing the Sidara deal.

Recent Corporate History and Governance

The shareholder meeting was delayed to allow for a review of Wood's 2024 full-year accounts, which were published on 30 October, just before a deadline set by Sidara. The accounts had been delayed past a regulatory deadline after an independent review by Deloitte identified "material weaknesses and failures" in Wood's projects business unit. This delay also resulted in a temporary suspension of Wood's shares from trading, though trading resumed earlier this month following the accounts' publication. Shareholders also approved a name change to John Wood Group Limited, which will take effect once the company is re-registered as a private entity. In a separate leadership change, interim chief financial officer Iain Torrens was announced as the replacement for current chief executive Ken Gilmartin, who is stepping down following the shareholder vote.

This material is an AI-assisted summary based on publicly available sources and may contain inaccuracies. For the original and full details, please refer to the source link. Based on materials by Nicholas Heath,Davide Ghilotti. All rights to the original text and images remain with their respective rights holders.