WSP has submitted an improved bid of £3.74bn to acquire Arcadis after the engineering consultancy rejected an original offer, stating it ‘fundamentally undervalued' its prospects.
Arcadis announced that it had received a second unsolicited offer from Canadian company WSP last week for ‘all issued and outstanding shares of Arcadis' at the price of €51.5 (£44) per share in cash and WSP stock. This equates to €4.38bn (£3.74bn), an increase from the previous offer of €48.5 (£41.5) per share.
This initial offer was unanimously rejected by Arcadis' executive and supervisory boards as they felt ‘it did not adequately reflect Arcadis' intrinsic value, strategic position and future prospects'.
The Netherlands-based Arcadis added that it also failed to address concerns around strategic and cultural fit, deal certainty and ‘other stakeholders' interests'.
While it stated that ‘no decision has been made regarding the revised offer', Arcadis added that it will provide ‘a further update' on strategy, performance and outlook ‘in conjunction with its Q2 and Half Year 2026 Results' on 30 July 2026.
This offer from WSP follows its acquisition of UK-based engineering consultancy Ricardo at the end of last year, which was valued at £281m.
