Feb 22 (Reuters) - Allied Universal made the highest bid in an auction for Britain's G4S (CSE:G4S) GFS.L , defeating a final bid from Canada's GardaWorld after a months-long battle for the security specialist.
A regulatory panel said the auction, called to conclude months of unsuccessful efforts by either side to win over shareholders, had concluded with Allied bidding 245 pence per share compared with Gardaworld's 235 pence. is a look at the British security company's history, tracing its roots back more than a 100 years to Scandinavia.
1901 - 1990s
Businesses offering night patrols on bicycles and motorised ambulances are set up in Scandinavia and Britain that later spawn three main groups through various deals over decades: Securicor (based in Britain), Falck (Denmark) and Sweden's Group 4 (Total Security)
Early 2000's
Mergers and acquisitions continue: Group 4 Falck is established that eventually becomes Group 4 Securicor and is listed on the London Stock Exchange
2006
G4S brand is rolled out
2007
G4S enters the FTSE 100 index, but has since been demoted to the FTSE 250 mid-cap index
2013
Ashley Almanza joins G4S as chief executive
2019, May
GardaWorld pulls back interest https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-g4s-m-a-garda-world/canadas-garda-world-drops-interest-in-british-rival-g4s-idUKKCN1SB0QG in G4S after earlier having said it was considering a cash offer for some or all of the company. It never made a formal proposal to G4S during the offer period.
2020, February
G4S agrees to sell https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-g4s-divestiture-idUKKCN20K2E7 most of cash handling business to Brinks in a 727 million pound deal
2020, September
G4S rejects https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gardaworld-m-a-g4s-idUSKBN2651HY 190-pence-a-share hostile bid from GardaWorld revealing it had earlier rejected two more proposals. The proposal had valued the UK-listed company at 2.97 billion pounds
2020, October
Allied Universal expresses interest https://www.reuters.com/article/g4s-ma-allied-universal-security-service-idCNL4N2H02HO in making an offer for G4S
2020, December
G4S agrees https://www.reuters.com/article/g4s-m-a-allieduniversal/g4s-backs-51-billion-allied-deal-after-bid-battle-idUKKBN28I2P6?edition-redirect=uk to be bought out by Allied for 3.8 billion pounds, or 245 pence per share
2021, January
GardaWorld extends https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g4s-m-a-gardaworld-idUSKBN29W2CR buyout offer period for a fifth time
2021, February
Allied Universal extends https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g4s-m-a-allied-universal/allied-extends-deadline-again-for-g4s-shareholders-to-accept-buyout-deal-idUSKBN2A92Q8?edition-redirect=in buyout offer period for a second time, while a media report disclosed that G4S planned to hold talks with the Takeover Panel
The $5 billion-plus bid battle for Britain's G4S will be settled by a rare head-to-head auction in February if one of its two North American suitors hasn't prevailed by then, Britain's takeover regulator said.
Sources: G4S website https://www.g4s.com/who-we-are/our-history, Reuters reporting
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