Hyder Consulting's Board has recommended to its shareholders accepting an increased offer from Arcadis following a rival offer from Japanese engineering company, Nippon Koei.

On June 31, Hyder's board accepted a $433.3 million bid from Netherlands-based Arcadis, which also owns the EC Harris building consultancy.

Later in early August Hyder announced that Nippon Koei had made a $450.5 million all cash counter offer. The offer represented a premium of approximately 44.9 % to the closing price of 469 pence per Hyder share on 30 July 2014.

Arcadis has now come back to the table with a much-improved UK£ 288 million (US$ 489 million), a more than +12% increase on its original bid.

Hyder also announced that the Dutch company had acquired some 15.6% of its share capital at the offer prices. It added that all Hyder directors who hold shares in the company have agreed to sell to Arcadis at the improved offer price.

Hyder is one of the world's longest established engineering consultancies, with a heritage that spans over two centuries. Headquartered in the UK, Hyder operates in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Hyder employs approximately 4,500 people and applies global expertise coupled with local knowledge to create award winning solutions for the transport, property, utilities and environment sectors.

Hyder has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2002, and reported revenues and EBITDA for the year ended 31 March 2014 of £296.8 million and £23.6 million respectively.