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G4S Falls Most in Six Months After Garda World Scraps Offer

G4S Falls Most in Six Months After Garda World Scraps Offer

(Bloomberg) -- G4S Plc, the world’s biggest security firm with more than half a million employees, fell the most in six months after a Canadian rival said it’s no longer interested in acquiring the company.

Garda World said it had no intention to make an offer on Sunday, after announcing that is was considering a cash bid for all or part of the business last month. Under U.K. takeover regulations, Garda World cannot make any attempt to purchase shares in G4S for the next six months.

G4S slumped as much as 8.5 percent, the most since Nov. 8, and traded 5.8 percent lower as of 8:12 a.m. in London. The initial announcement of Garda World’s interest sent shares of G4S, the world’s biggest guarding firm, a record 20 percent higher on April 10.

The London-based company endured a tough year in 2018, weighed down by its cash-handling business. That prompted G4S to consider a sale or spinoff of the unit, which moves money to and from banks, shops and cash machines, to focus on security guarding.

The company has received additional expressions of interest to acquire the cash business, G4S said in a statement on Tuesday, and the firm will evaluate those alongside its ongoing review into that division. G4S said that since Garda World’s announcement it has received no proposals from the firm.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucca de Paoli in London at gdepaoli1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, John Bowker, Andrew Noël

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