John Wood Group said on Monday it has decided to engage with Apollo Management for a firm offer from the private equity firm for a final buyout price of 240 pence per share, which values the group at about 1.66 billion pounds ($2.06 billion).
Apollo is now required to announce a firm intention to make an offer for the oilfield services and engineering firm by May 17, Wood Group said, extending the previous deadline of April 19.
Wood Group, which had rejected four proposals from Apollo previously, said its decision was based on feedback from shareholders and that it would give Apollo access to due diligence materials.
The final proposal represents a premium of about 17% to Wood's closing share price on April 3, the day before Apollo made its latest proposal.
($1 = 0.8052 pounds)
(Reuters - Reporting by Muhammed Husain in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
