Alright, so like, the whole situation with Wood Group is kinda heating up, you know? The drama of the takeover battle seems like it’s gonna drag on for a few more weeks. Today, it was spilled to the stock market that Sidara, who’s been eyeing up the troubled Scottish oil services giant for a while now, got an extension to decide if they wanna make an offer or bounce. The deadline for them to put their money where their mouth is got pushed back to June 12, giving everyone more time to bite their nails in anticipation.
Sidara has been in and out of the picture since way back in 2023 when Apollo Management Holdings from the US was all like, “Hey, we’ll drop £1.7 billion for Wood, no biggie.” But then they ghosted in April 2023. Sidara then swooped in last year with an offer of around £1.6 billion, but they dipped out in August. Fast forward to now, and Sidara is back in the game with a way less juicy proposal. Wood Group has been going through some tough times, with their stock price hitting rock bottom after some financial boo-boos were exposed in a review last November. The company even had to hit pause on sharing their 2024 results.
Now, Sidara is some big shot in planning, design, engineering, and project management, and they’re throwing around this offer of 35p per share to buy up Wood Group. That’s like £241 million, which is a far cry from the billions Apollo and even the first Sidara offer were talking about. The Wood Group board is still playing nice with Sidara, trying to figure out all the nitty-gritty details before committing to anything. They’re chatting with lenders, noteholders, auditors, and probably the office coffee machine too. The deadline for Sidara to either put a ring on it or bail has been extended to June 12, with a possibility for more extensions if everyone’s feeling chill about it. So, yeah, the saga continues, and we’re all just here for the ride.
