Ferrovial SA backs out of $830 mn buyout bid for Transfield Services

Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial SA has backed out from buying Transfield Services Ltd after the board of the Australian outsourcing and construction services company rejected its sweetened A$1.02 billion ($830 million) buyout offer.

Transfield today said that Ferrovial's revised A$2 per share offer still undervalued the company.

Ferrovial, which had in October tabled a non-binding offer of A$1.95 a share, said that it has now ended discussions with Transfield and would continue to look at growth options elsewhere.

Transfield shares fell as much as 18 per cent today, giving the company a market cap of A$799 million.

''Ferrovial Services has undertaken the limited due diligence available and concluded that there were a number of issues that impacted value,'' the Madrid-based company said in a statement.

Transfield provides operations and maintenance, asset management, project and capital management outsourcing and infrastructure development services to diverse industries, including defence, transport, utilities, mining, and oil and gas industries.

The Sydney-based company, which built Sydney's Harbour Tunnel and operates the harbour's ferry network, operates in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Chile, Brunei, New Caledonia, and the Philippines.

Early this year it bagged a A$1.2 billion government contract to service Australia's offshore asylum seeker detention facilities on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, and Nauru.