ARCADIS this morning increased its offer for Hyder Consulting to 750p a share and purchased 3,734,808 shares at the new price in what is seen as a bid to insure the takeover against rival bids. Along with directors shares already sold at the previous price of 730p, ARCADIS now owns 25.9% of Hyder. The new offer now values the Hyder business at £296M.

The deal is expected to complete on 16 October.

The board of Hyder had agreed terms to sell the business to consultant ARCADIS on 21 August after the Dutch firm increased its cash offer to 730p a share to buy the firm.

This had easily trumped Nippon Koei’s previous 680p per share bid to buy the consultant by 50p valuing the firm at around £288M. The original bid by ARCADIS for the Hyder business was 650p per share.

The Board of Hyder said it had withdrawn its recommendation of the offer by Nippon Koei UK and welcomed the new offer by ARCADIS.

Nippon Koei said at the time that it was considering its position and would make a further announcement in due course.

ARCADIS had already acquired 15.6% of Hyder's shares at the 730p price.

Commenting in August, Neil McArthur, Chief Executive Officer of ARCADIS said: “Hyder is a unique company with a long history of being involved in the leading edge of design and engineering.”

He added: The geographic coverage and capabilities of the two businesses are highly complementary. In the UK, Germany, Middle East and Asia, Hyder’s design and engineering services fully complement ARCADIS’ design, consultancy and project management services while Hyder’s presence in Australia creates a platform to provide the full range of ARCADIS capabilities.” 

A steering committee, jointly led by Hyder chief executive Ivor Catto and Arcadis executive board director Stephan Ritter is creating the detailed strategy and optimal operating model of the combined businesses in order to optimise the benefits of the combination.