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Wood Group accepts Sidara takeover deal

1 September 2025

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UK-based Wood Group has agreed to a $292m conditional takeover bid from Dubai-based Sidara, according to statements issued by both companies.

The acceptance of the offer by Wood is expected to end negotiations that have lasted more than a year and involved several rejected offers.

Under the terms of the deal, Sidara will take on $1.6bn of Wood Group's debt and inject $450m of cash into the company.

The deal is conditional on Wood Group publishing its delayed results and ensuring that certain debt facilities are not terminated, among other requirements.

At the end of April, Wood Group’s shares were suspended on the London Stock Exchange because the company did not publish its accounts for 2024 on time.

The company, which is struggling with ongoing financial problems, employs more than 4,000 people in the Middle East, having increased its headcount by 500 in 2024.

Recently, Sidara lowered its bid proposal for Wood Group after Britain's Financial Conduct Authority launched a probe into some of Wood Group's contracts and charges.

Wood Group’s chairman, Roy Franklin, is now due to step down following a court meeting on 7 January 2026, when shareholders will vote on the acquisition.

Despite the company’s ongoing financial problems, it has continued to win contracts in the Middle East and North Africa region.

In May, the company secured a contract to perform detailed engineering work on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package that is part of a $7.5bn project to boost oil production at the Lower Zakum offshore hydrocarbons concession in Abu Dhabi.

The work was awarded to Aberdeen-headquartered Wood as a sub-contract by Abu Dhabi-based Target Engineering Construction Company, the main contractor performing EPC works on package five of the Lower Zakum Long-Term Development Plan 1 project.

Also in May, the company was awarded several decarbonisation contracts with a total value of about $100m, for flare gas reduction and carbon efficiency project solutions across Iraq’s largest oil fields.

Under the terms of the contracts, Wood will deliver brownfield EPC and modifications solutions to “enhance operational efficiency and minimise environmental impacts”, according to a statement released by the company.

In its statement, Wood said that the projects will support Iraq’s commitment to reduce gas flaring by 78% by the end of 2025.

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Wil Crisp

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