Engineering group Weir has officially lost the bidding war for Australian mining equipment Ludowici after withdrawing its offer on Tuesday morning.
Weir had been in a battle with Danish rival FLSmidth since January but had repeatedly been outbid. FLS's latest offer at A$11 per share, up from the initial A$7.92-a-share offer made on January 23rd, compares with Weir's A$10-a-share offer which it refused to increase.
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As such, Weir has confirmed today that it will make no further offer and has withdrawn from bidding for Ludowici. Weir's A$10-a-share offer lapsed on March 1st.
"Whilst Ludowici represented an attractive opportunity to expand our market leading Australian business, our focus in any acquisition is to create value for Weir shareholders. A materially higher offer would not have met the rigorous financial criteria which we apply to all acquisitions," said Chief Executive Keith Cochrane.
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