Japan's Nippon Koei trumps Arcadis in Hyder takeover tussle

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - British engineering firm Hyder Consulting said on Friday it had accepted a 268 million pounds ($451 million) takeover offer from Japan's Nippon Koei , just days after recommending a bid from Dutch firm Arcadis (Other OTC: ARCAY - news) .

The companies said in a joint statement that the recommended cash offer would entitle Hyder shareholders to receive 680 pence in cash for each Hyder share, a 30 pence premium to an offer from Arcadis last week.

Hyder had accepted a buyout bid from Dutch engineering group Arcadis, which was prepared to pay 650p per share for Hyder, in an offer valued at 256.2 million pounds.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in Hyder closed at 645 pence on Thursday.

The merged group between Hyder and Nippon Koei would create a company with a market capitalisation of $863.6 million.

Nippon said that Hyder will continue to operate as a standalone division of the combine businesses and that changes to the company would be minimal.

($1 = 0.5948 British Pounds) (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by Neil Maidment)