Austrian engineering group M+W has decided not to make a new bid for Kentz – just a day after rivals Amec dropped their interest in taking over the company.
M+W had made a bid in July for the Jersey-registered group, which has no central headquarters, but which was rejected by Kentz management.
Kentz had indicated it would be open to an offer valuing the company at around £775million, after posting an 8% rise in profits for the first six months of the year, and seeing its order backlog rise to £1.8billion.
A deadline of September 19 was set for M+W to make a follow-up bid, but this morning the company confirmed it would not be following up its initial interest.
“M+W Group announced that it had submitted an indicative offer for Kentz in early July, which was rejected by the Kentz Board, and that it was still considering its options which may or may not result in a cash offer being made for Kentz,” the company said.
“Today M+W Group confirms that, in accordance with the requirements of the UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, it does not intend to make an offer for Kentz. Accordingly, M+W Group is bound by the restrictions under Rule 2.8 of the Takeover Code.”
Kentz chief executive Christian Brown said he was confident the company could offer further value to shareholders as a standalone company after fending off the interest from M+W and Amec.
“I would like to thank shareholders for their support during the offer period,” he said.
“Kentz has grown and evolved into a truly global company, respected by its clients, many of whom are amongst the biggest companies in the world.
“We have every confidence in the long-term future and significant value of Kentz and its future prospects. We have a clear and realisable strategy in place that we believe will continue to deliver strong returns for our shareholders.”
Yesterday Amec said they would not be following up their intial interest, having made a £690million approach last month for the company as it looked to increase its presence in the oil, gas and mining markets.
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