North Sea oil large revives takeover talks with Dubai-based suitor

A Dubai-based engineering group has re-entered talks to purchase John Wooden Group, sparking a 40pc surge within the North Sea oil large’s share value.

The FTSE 250 enterprise confirmed on Monday it had acquired a contemporary strategy from Sidara, simply six months after earlier talks collapsed.

On the time, Sidara mentioned the possible takeover was off “in mild of rising geopolitical dangers and monetary market uncertainty”.

Nevertheless, it has been introduced again to the desk owing to Wooden Group’s low valuation, the Monetary Instances reported, with the corporate’s share value having fallen by 75pc over the previous 12 months.

The corporate, which presents outsourcing companies to main North Sea producers, is now valued at round £235m, a fraction of the £5bn it was price in 2017.

Beneath inventory market guidelines, Sidara is obliged to announce a agency intention to make a proposal by March 24.

It follows a tumultuous interval for the enterprise, which has acquired a mixed 9 presents from Sidara and personal fairness agency Apollo lately.

Wooden Group’s shares beforehand took a success in November after asserting Deloitte had been drafted in to conduct an impartial evaluation of its accounts.

Bosses mentioned this month that the evaluation had proven it wanted to enhance its tradition and controls within the mild of “recognized weaknesses and failures”, whereas Deloitte’s findings additionally prompt earnings from Wooden Group’s tasks division might have been overstated in 2023 and prior years.

Wooden Group additionally confirmed final week that its chief monetary officer had resigned after admitting he incorrectly claimed to be a chartered accountant.

Arvind Balan, who joined final April, mentioned: “Regrettably, I made an sincere oversight with respect to the outline of my skilled qualification as a chartered accountant as a substitute of an authorized working towards accountant.”

Sidara is a part of Dar Al-Handasah Consultants, which was based in 1956 in Beirut. The group, which turned over $2.8bn (£2.2bn) in 2023, is privately owned by 44 companions working within the enterprise.

Sidara was contacted for remark.

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