Here are the stories making the headlines locally and across the country this morning.
Wood extends Sidara takeover deadline
Aberdeen-headquartered engineering firm Wood has extended a deadline for Dubai-based competitor Sidara to make a firm takeover offer to the end of July.
Sidara had until 5pm today to confirm its ‘final offer‘ for Wood at 23p per share, but the Wood board and the independent Takeover Panel agreed to an extension until 31 July.
Wood decided to grant Sidara access to due diligence materials in June as it mulled the final offer, which valued the firm at around £1.6bn.
Under UK takeover rules known as “put up or shut up” (PUSU), bidders need to announce a fully financed binding offer within 28 days, or confirm it will not be making an offer in which event it is subject to a 6-month standstill.
Jim Ratcliffe shelves Ineos electric vehicle plan
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has shelved plans for his Ineos Automotive business to build an electric vehicle only months after a model was unveiled, citing low consumer demand and a lack of clarity over the government’s policy on net zero.
In February, the petrochemicals tycoon revealed an all-electric Fusilier, intended to be available also as a hybrid variant and as a smaller sister vehicle to the Ineos Grenadier, an all-terrain 4×4 developed after Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to abandon its old-style Land Rover Defender.
In a statement, Ineos Automotive said: “We are delaying the launch of the Ineos Fusilier for two reasons: reluctant consumer uptake of electric vehicles and industry uncertainty around tariffs, timings and taxation.
Read the full story here.
Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone is ideal new home for Integrity ISS
Fast-growing Aberdeen company Integrity Integrated Service Solutions (Integrity ISS) is moving into new headquarters in the city.
Its new, “significantly” bigger location from next Monday, Unit 12B, Peterseat Park, is at the heart of the Energy Transition Zone (ETZ).
The energy services firm is currently headquartered in offices at Hill of Rubislaw.
It is investing around £1.5 million in its relocation, including ongoing facility upgrades.
Jeff Bezos set to sell $5bn of Amazon shares
Jeff Bezos, the multibillionaire founder and executive chairman of Amazon, is planning to sell shares in the ecommerce and technology group worth almost $5bn to bring the total he has offloaded this year to more than $13.4bn.
Shares in the world’s largest online retail and cloud computing company hit a record high of $200.43 on Tuesday and have risen by almost 52% over the past year.
They closed down 1.2%, or $2.41, at $197.59 as markets closed early before the Independence Day holiday.
After the sale plan, Bezos, 60, would own about 912 million Amazon shares, or 8.8% of the outstanding stock.