Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New £341 million offer for Port of Dundee firm could spark bidding war

The Curlew was Dundee's first major decommissioning project.
The Curlew was Dundee's first major decommissioning project.

A new suitor has emerged with a nine-figure bid for the company that brought Dundee’s first major decommissioning project.

Shares in hazardous waste firm Augean have rocketed as it emerged a rival bidder is trying to acquire the company.

Augean worked on the prominent Shell Curlew decom project at Port of Dundee for over a year.

It also has four sites in Aberdeen as well as a Peterhead facility. Its headquarters is in Wetherby.

Another offer for Augean to come?

In May, banking giant Morgan Stanley made an offer worth around £300 million for Augean. Two extensions have been granted to try to complete the deal.

Today a new offer has been made by investment firms Ancala and Fiera Infrastructure of Canada under the banner of Eleia Limited.

Augean North Sea Services, at East Tullos Industrial Estate, Aberdeen.

Their bid of 325p a share values the firm at £341.2m.

The Augean board is now recommending this higher offer for approval.

Augean share price rose 17% this morning, from 285p to 334p – beyond the new offer price.

This suggests shareholders now anticipate an improved offer from Morgan Stanley Infrastructure (MSIP).

Augean offer is ‘good outcome’

Jim Meredith, executive chairman of Augean, describes Ancala and Fiera Instructure as “well-respected as long-term investors in the infrastructure sector”.

He said the firms would keep Augean’s existing footprint.

In a message to investors, he added: “They will be able to support Augean’s strategy of providing the highest level of customer service and safe operations in niche and highly regulated hazardous waste markets.

“We recognise the increase in the price offered to Augean shareholders… when compared with the MSIP offer and have accordingly recommended the offer to Augean shareholders.”

Mr Meredith said the acquisition is a “good outcome for all Augean stakeholders, including our employees, our customers and the wider UK economy.”

Meanwhile, Ancala and Fiera Infrastructure both emphasise their ambitions to grow Augean.

What comes next?

Shareholders are due to receive further details of the offer in the week of September 6.

This communication will also contain the proxy forms of whether to accept the bid or not.

Huge offshore platform Curlew arrives in Dundee for decommissioning by waste management firm Augean.

A general meeting will then be held in the week of September 27.

Then, if the deal wins approval, the transaction will complete in October.

Decommissioning role in Dundee

Augean provided specialised cleaning and waste management services for Shell’s floating production, storage and offloading vessel Curlew.

The vessel was at Dundee for just over a year, leaving last July.

The firm cut more than a third of its North Sea Services workforce last year.