The offer was made on 1 September, comprising US$800 million cash and US$100 million in CGG stock.

In a statement CGG said, “Following the immediate rejection of this offer by PGS, CGG and its counsel have sought clarification from PGS on the main issues, with a view to the possibility of addressing such concerns by means of adequately adjusted proposals.”

“The conclusion of this exchange is the gap existing between the two parties is far in excess of what can be reasonably expected to be bridged under a final negotiation process [and] as a consequence, CGG has decided to withdraw its offer of a potential combination with PGS seismic services, and will continue to pursue strategic alternatives,” added the firm.

According to PGS, “The CGG proposal was subject to fulfilment of various conditions including, among other things, satisfactory completion of due diligence and financing arrangements [and], based on evaluations performed by PGS management and financial advisors, [we] rejected the CGG proposal as inadequate in terms of price and other conditions.”

“CGG did not revise its offer prior to withdrawing it. PGS continues to believe in the potential benefits of seismic industry restructuring and will continue to pursue solutions to enhance profitability and value to PGS shareholders,” it added.