Security group GardaWorld said on Wednesday it has withdrawn its no-increase statement related to the offer price for G4S, which valued the British company at 3.7 billion pounds, and added it was considering its options.
G4S had on Tuesday agreed to be bought out by Allied Universal, picking the U.S. company over Canadian rival GardaWorld after a two-month long bidding war. The London-listed firm rejected GardaWorld’s offer of 235 pence per share in favour of Allied’s bid, which was 10 pence higher.
Shares in G4S, one of the world’s largest private security companies, hit their highest level since Aug. 18 after the news. They were up 0.9% at 257.8 pence at 1229 GMT.
Some analysts expect GardaWorld to raise its hostile bid for G4S, while adding that Allied Universal should have more cost synergies given its greater geographic overlap with G4S.
“Our sense from reading all of Garda’s documentation in recent months is that it strongly wants to acquire G4S. A further bid from Garda could maybe prompt a raised offer from Allied,” Panmure Gordon analyst Robert Plant said.
GardaWorld also said that G4S shareholders who had already accepted its latest offer would have the right of withdrawal for a period of eight days, starting Wednesday.
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