Halliburton tops Candover bid with £1.7bn Expro offer

Halliburton, the US engineering giant, today gatecrashed takeover talks for British oilfield services group Expro International with a £1.7billion offer.

The bid from the world's second-largest oilfield contractor trumps a previous offer priced at £1.61billion from private-equity group Candover.

Halliburton said it would offer 1525p a share for Expro, although the approach was subject to preconditions.

The group, famed for its work in Iraq, said in April that it was considering a counterbid to the offer made by Candover and Goldman Sachs' private-equity arm. That tilt was at 1435p a share, a 55% premium to Expro's price before the talks were made public.

Evolution Securities analyst Keith Morris said: "Halliburton's bid will prevail as I don't see a bidding war for Expro. Halliburton offers more potential synergies than Candover."