Another twist to the Babcock International and VT Group bid situation, with traders hearing talk of a possible predator for Babcock itself.
After several days of to-ing and fro-ing, VT finally recommended a cash and share offer from Babcock worth £1.33bn, or 757p a share, and that appeared to be that. But perhaps not.
During the course of the bid, VT abandoned its own offer for smaller rival Mouchel and there was also talk of possible white knights for VT in the shape of US giants such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin.
Now there comes speculative suggestions the US groups might in fact be looking at Babcock, which has helped push its shares sharply higher. Babcock is now up 32.5p at 565p - which could more rationally be explained by the fact that investors are relieved it has not overpaid and that it has identified £50m of synergistic cost savings, more than originally expected. VT meanwhile is 38.5p better at 728.5p, well below the offer price taking into account Babcock's share price rise.
But the tale of a bid for Babcock does not appear to be widely believed. Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners said:
We would totally discount rumours that surfaced late morning hinting that Boeing and/or Lockheed Martin may be casting an eye over Babcock. We reason this view suggesting that neither Boeing nor Lockheed Martin have been in the habit of making hostile bids. Additionally and more importantly perhaps, neither Babcock nor VT Group would appear to fit within the international strategy of either American giant.
