Aberdeen's biggest company Wood revealed yesterday that it had rejected three unsolicited bids from US private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.
News of the move led to Wood shares shooting up by nearly 30% this morning.
The leading engineering and consultancy business said yesterday that all three offers each "significantly" undervalued the group's prospects.
The most recent approach was received on January 26 and proposed a 230p cash payment per Wood share.
The latest bid values Wood at just under £1.6billion.
Wood shares closed yesterday at 148.12p - giving it a market value of just over £1billion.
Shortly after the stock market opened today, Wood shares rocketed by 29% to 200p.
In its statement yesterday, Wood confirmed that it had received three unsolicited, preliminary and conditional proposals from Apollo.
Proposals considered
It added: "The board carefully considered each of the proposals, together with its financial advisers, and has engaged on a limited basis with Apollo.
"The board unanimously rejected each of the proposals, having concluded that they each significantly undervalued the repositioned group's prospects."
Apollo now has until March 22 to either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Wood or state that it does not intend to.
The Guardian reports today that Wood is the latest UK company to be targeted by private equity.
For example, Greybull Capital is weighing up a bid for the collapsed battery start-up Britishvolt as administrators at EY try to push through a sale of the gigafactory project.
One of the biggest private-equity takeovers in recent years was that of the supermarket chain Morrisons.
Struggle for Morrisons
It has struggled and sales have fallen since the New York-based Clayton, Dubilier & Rice took it over in a £7billion buyout in October 2021. The deal more than doubled the grocer's debt pile, from £3.2billion in January 2021 to £6.8billion a year later, according to credit rating agency Moody's.
Wood's worldwide workforce is now around 37,000, with more than 6,000 of them in the UK.
The Granite City team currently totals 4,500.
The business has come a long way since Sir Ian Wood saw the huge opportunity presented by the birth of the UK offshore oil industry in the 1970s.
The inspirational entrepreneur transformed the family-owned fishing operation into a multinational oil services company listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Wood now has an annual turnover of more than £4billion, and the order book for this year currently stands at nearly £5billion.
Energy services
Energy services are responsible for two-thirds of its business, while materials make up the other third.
Materials is a wide-ranging sector which takes in everything from designing facilities for pharmaceutical companies to delivering projects in the transportation and water sectors.
Last June, Wood announced it was selling its built environment consulting business to WSP Global for around £1.5billion.
The operation has over 100 offices, predominantly in North America, with others located in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Built environment consulting employs around 5,500 consultants and technicians.
Canadian company WSP is one of the world's leading engineering professional services firms.
Wood focus
Wood chief executive Ken Gilmartin said in a trading update last month: "We are focused on growth in energy and materials, both with structural growth drivers - energy security, energy transition, net zero and the circular economy - which create long-term growth opportunities for Wood.
"Our leading positions in these markets, long-term client relationships and expertise in decarbonisation and digitalisation is enabling us to win additional market share.
"Significant contracts won in the second half of the year include a five-year engineering services contract renewal with BP, a three-year contract renewal with Shell in the UK North Sea, and a four-year contract with INEOS to deliver a state-of-the-art petrochemicals complex in Belgium.
"This is a new Wood, led by a new team, and the strategy we recently shared at our capital markets day will enable us to deliver sustainable returns.
"We have attractive growth prospects in our core markets, we are trusted by our clients, and we have the talent and solutions to enable a net-zero future. We're focused on designing a strong future for Wood and enter this New Year with positive momentum."