Wooden Group, the troubled London-listed oil companies firm, is racing to finalise a cut-price takeover by a Gulf-based rival by the top of the month.
Sky Information has learnt that Wooden and Sidara, its UAE-based suitor, are to request an extension to a ‘put up or shut up’ deadline on Thursday for the latter to make a agency supply.
The joint request to the Takeover Panel, which is anticipated to be granted, is prone to contain a shorter extension than the utmost 28 days allowed underneath Metropolis guidelines, reflecting the businesses’ confidence {that a} deal will likely be agreed.
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Wooden and Sidara are aiming to get a binding transaction agreed by 30 June, when a waiver of Wooden’s lending covenants is because of expire, based on business insiders.
A public assertion is prone to be made on Thursday.
Sidara tabled a 35p-a-share supply for Wooden in April which valued the Aberdeen-based goal at simply over £242m.
It got here lower than a 12 months after it proposed a deal value about £1.5bn, after which Wooden’s shares collapsed within the wake of revelations about its previous monetary outcomes and company governance.
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The corporate’s shares have been suspended because the starting of final month.
Wooden was additionally the topic of an earlier takeover method from Apollo International Administration, the non-public fairness agency.
A spokesman for Wooden declined to remark.