FTSE 250 movers: Wood Grp gains on bid rebuff; AJ Bell slides on founder stake sale

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,633.26 0.01% Wood Group said it had rejected a third unsolicited £1.52bn takeover proposal from rival Dubai-based engineering and consulting company Sidara, saying it continued to "significantly undervalue" the group and its prospects.

Sidara upped its latest offer by 3.8% to 220p-a-share on May 21, from 212p a week ago and the 205p initial approach. It has until June 5 to make a firm bid.

All three proposals are higher than Wood's closing share price on May 23 of 180p. The stock was up 3.89% to 187p on Friday.

AJ Bell said on Friday that founder Andy Bell sold 7.5m shares in the investment platform in a placing at 375p each, raising around £28.1m.

Bell will hold just over 77.3m shares, or 18.7%, in the company after completion.

Hargreaves Lansdown fell back after confirming on Thursday that the financial services platform had rejected a 985p per share takeover offer from a consortium comprising of CVC, Nordic Capital and Platinum Ivy, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Market Movers

FTSE 250 - Risers

Wood Group (John) (WG.) 185.40p 3.00% Travis Perkins (TPK) 856.00p 2.88% Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) 2,224.00p 2.87% Ascential (ASCL) 340.50p 2.71% NCC Group (NCC) 142.20p 2.60% Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) 405.00p 2.27% North Atlantic Smaller Companies Inv Trust (NAS) 4,190.00p 2.20% Britvic (BVIC) 1,005.00p 2.03% SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust (SEIT) 63.00p 1.94% Ibstock (IBST) 168.80p 1.93%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

AJ Bell (AJB) 388.00p -3.72% QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 409.20p -3.58% Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,081.00p -3.48% Kainos Group (KNOS) 1,216.00p -2.72% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 132.70p -2.35% Diversified Energy Company (DEC) 1,092.00p -2.06% Mobico Group (MCG) 56.90p -1.90% Hill and Smith (HILS) 2,060.00p -1.67% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 168.80p -1.63% Pennon Group (PNN) 608.00p -1.62%