GFS.L Share News (GFS)

(Sharecast News) - Security services firm G4S confirmed on Tuesday that it had not received an offer from Canadian rival Garda World, which had announced back in April that it was interested in buying the company.The confirmation followed a statement by Garda World on Sunday in which the group said it did not intend to make an offer for the London-listed company.G4S said that since the offer period began on 10th April, it has received additional expressions of interest to acquire its cash solutions business and "these will be evaluated alongside the separation review"."The group continues to focus on its previously announced review of options for the separation of its cash solutions business from the group. Our aim is to establish two strong independent businesses that are able to take advantage of their leading market positions and excellent service offerings for the benefit of customers, employees and shareholders."The group is making good progress in its plans to enable it to commence separation of the cash business in the second half of 2019 and our analysis to date has further strengthened our expectation that a separation will deliver significant benefits."At 1330 BST, the shares were down 2.7% at 210.20p.RBC Capital Markets said: "We are not overly surprised that no bid was forthcoming given the relative sizes of the businesses, the level of debt on both sides and the lack of potential synergies. As we have previously stated, we believe the best outcome for G4S shareholders would be a sale of Cash Services as this would: a) focus the group on security, and b) reduce debt/pension levels. It is thus encouraging that there are expressions of interest in it."That said, we believe there will be limited synergies for any acquirer and we think the structural pressures in the business will limit the valuation achieved."