Wood Group shares surge as talks open with Apollo on £1.6bn bid

Shares in Wood Group surged on Monday after the oil and gas engineering firm said it had decided to start talks with US private equity group Apollo on a potential £1.66bn takeover.

Wood has rejected four proposals from Apollo but has now decided to grant access to documents for due diligence after a fifth approach at 240p a share, the company said on Monday. The stock rose more than 7% to 228p on the news.

It added that a deadline for a firm bid had been extended to May 17 from April 19.

"Apollo has stated to the board that it values the skills and capabilities of Wood's employees and believes the company is well positioned in its markets and at the forefront of the energy transition and industrial decarbonisation," Wood Group said in a statement.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com