Shareholders of UK contractor Wood have overwhelmingly approved a £216 million takeover bid from 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 a significant rise in Wood's share price.

Financial Terms and Market Reaction

The Sidara bid, which was recommended by Wood’s board, offers 30 pence per share. This is a revision from an initial proposal of 35 pence per share made in April, which was lowered after Sidara completed its due diligence. The total acquisition value is also substantially below the £1.4 billion initially proposed by Sidara in 2024. Following the shareholder vote, Wood's share price jumped over 10% in London trading.

Timeline and Conditions

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. The company has reported making significant progress toward meeting the conditions required by antitrust authorities to greenlight the deal. The shareholder meeting was delayed to allow investors to review Wood’s delayed 2024 full-year accounts, which were published just before a deadline set by Sidara.

Capital Injection and Financial Distress

The shareholder approval enables Wood to immediately access the first $250 million of a $450 million cash injection pledged by Sidara. The remaining $200 million will be available upon the completion of the acquisition. Wood's board had previously described the company's capital structure as "unsustainable," citing limited liquidity for operations and significant challenges in accessing new capital. The board stated that alternative refinancing options would likely generate materially less, or zero, value for shareholders compared to the Sidara acquisition.

Recent Challenges and Leadership

Wood faced a suspension of its shares from trading after missing a regulatory deadline to publish its 2024 accounts. This delay was caused by an independent review by Deloitte that found "material weaknesses and failures" in Wood’s projects business unit. The company's shares resumed trading earlier this month following the publication of the accounts. Furthermore, Wood recently asked shareholders to temporarily suspend the company’s borrowing limit after its audited accounts revealed that borrowings would exceed the limit, an event that would have serious implications for its debt facilities and risked the Sidara acquisition. In a leadership change, interim chief financial officer Iain Torrens was announced as the replacement for current chief executive Ken Gilmartin, who will step down following the shareholder vote.

Corporate Identity

Shareholders also approved a plan to change the company's name to John Wood Group Limited once it is re-registered as a private company following the acquisition.

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.