WOOD Group expects to complete the bumper £2.2 billion takeover of Amec Foster Wheeler next month after successful moves to ease regulators’ fears about the impact of the deal on the North Sea oil services market.
The Competition and Markets Authority said a proposal by Amec Foster Wheeler to sell the bulk of its North Sea operations would address the concerns it had expressed about the takeover. It thinks the sale of the assets should ensure customers in the North Sea can still get competitive bids for services.
The announcement removes the last obstacle in the way of Aberdeen-based Wood completing the recommended takeover of Amec Foster Wheeler, which it expects will create a global engineering powerhouse.
The deal will allow Wood to reduce its reliance on the North Sea, where oil and gas companies have slashed spending in response to the crude price plunge since 2014.
The takeover of London-based Amec Foster Wheeler is expected to lead to around 1,200 job losses globally.
Wood’s chief executive Robin Watson said it it is very confident of completing the takeover in October.
Amec Foster Wheeler said it had made significant progress marketing its UK upstream oil and gas business to a range of high quality bidders.
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