British regulator to end bidding war for G4S with head-to-head auction

(Reuters) – Britain’s takeover regulator said on Friday it would hold an auction for G4S to resolve a drawn-out bidding war between GardaWorld and Allied Universal for the London-listed private security firm.

Takeover Panel’s decision to set up auction comes after multiple offer deadline extensions by both GardaWorld and Allied Universal, which the panel said have until Feb. 20 to make revised offers for G4S outside the auction process.

G4S, one of the world’s largest private security companies, in December backed a 3.8 billion pound ($5.24 billion) offer from Allied Universal, after repeatedly rejecting offers from GardaWorld.

Allied’s latest offer of 245 pence a G4S share is 10 pence higher than GardaWorld’s last bid.

G4S shares, which have soared more than 80% since private-equity backed GardaWorld first made its offer public on Sept. 14, were up 1%. They hit a more than two-year high of 269 pence earlier on Friday.

($1 = 0.7254 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)