Wood Group (John) PLC has decided to engage with Apollo Management to see if a firm offer can finally be made for the FTSE 250-listed firm.
The move follows talks with shareholders and Wood Group said it has granted Apollo full access to due diligence materials.
The oil and gas engineering firm has been the subject of a number of approaches from Apollo, the last of which valued the company at 240p per share.
Wood Group said it had “weighed all relevant factors, particularly feedback received from Wood shareholders,” in coming to the decision.
The deadline for any bid has been pushed back to 17 May after a request to the Takeover Panel.
On 7 March, Wood Group rejected a fourth unsolicited bid approach from Apollo which valued it at 237p per share, a 7p premium to the previous third attempt by Apollo to win over the company.
On 22 February, the company announced it had unanimously rejected three unsolicited proposals from Apollo.