Shareholders of UK contractor Wood have overwhelmingly approved a £216 million ($284 million) takeover bid from United Arab Emirates engineering firm Sidara, with approximately 90% voting in favor. This approval was a necessary condition for the acquisition to proceed and has triggered a significant rise in Wood's share price. The transaction is now expected to be completed in the first half of 2026.

Financial Terms and Share Price Reaction

The approved Sidara bid offers a revised 30 pence ($0.39) per Wood share, which is lower than an initial proposal of 35 pence per share made in April. The total acquisition value is also substantially below the £1.4 billion originally tabled by Sidara in 2024. Following the shareholder vote, Wood's share price jumped 10.18% to 24 pence in London trading. As part of the deal, shareholders also approved a plan to change the company's name to John Wood Group Limited upon its re-registration as a private company.

Capital Injection and Financial Distress

The shareholder approval enables Wood to immediately access the first $250 million of a $450 million cash injection pledged by Sidara. The remaining $200 million will become available upon the final completion of the acquisition. Wood's board had previously supported the Sidara offer, citing an "unsustainable" capital structure, "limited" liquidity for operations, and "significant challenges" in accessing new capital. The board stated that alternative refinancing options would likely generate materially less, or even zero, value for shareholders compared to the Sidara acquisition.

Background: Account Delays and Financial Weaknesses

The shareholder meeting was initially delayed to allow investors to review Wood's overdue 2024 full-year accounts, which were published on 30 October, just before a deadline set by Sidara. The delay in publishing these accounts was caused by an independent review from Deloitte that identified "material weaknesses and failures" in Wood's projects business unit. This earlier delay had also led to Wood's shares being suspended from trading, though they resumed earlier this month following the publication of the accounts. Furthermore, Wood recently requested shareholders to temporarily suspend the company’s borrowing limit after its audited accounts revealed that borrowings would exceed the limit, an event that would have had "serious and adverse implications" for its debt facilities and risked the Sidara acquisition.

Leadership Change

In a related leadership change, interim chief financial officer Iain Torrens was announced last month as the replacement for current chief executive Ken Gilmartin, who was scheduled to step down following the shareholder vote on Sidara's proposal.