CH2M Hill pulls out of bid for Scott Wilson after URS raises offer to £233m

URS has won the battle to takeover Scott Wilson after raising its bid to 290p a share.

Rival bidder CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based engineer, released a statement last night saying it cannot match the £233m price and is withdrawing a 245p offer it made on Monday evening.

CH2M Hill bought a 12.97% stake in Scott Wilson on Monday, which it is expected to sell to URS for a profit of millions.

CHM2M Hill CEO Lee McIntire said: “While Scott Wilson is an excellent company and an attractive cultural fit with CH2M HILL, it is not felt to be value enhancing to us at the current valuation.”

“We understand the importance of certainty to all those impacted by the offer process, in particular the employees and customers of Scott Wilson, and have decided to make clear today that we will no longer proceed with the acquisition of the company.”

The development came just hours after the Takeover Panel had intervened in the bidding yesterday. The panel had said that URS broke the rules by saying it may match the higher offer and told URS to take action rather than make vague statements.

Topics