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Elliott said in a regulatory filing that it acquired the stake
in a contracts-for-difference deal on April 21, the day after
Atkins agreed to be acquired by Canadian construction and
engineering group SNC Lavalin.
Shares in Atkins closed on Monday at 2,100 pence, above SNC's
offer price of 2,080 pence a share.
After SNC made an indicative offer for Atkins on April 3,
Liberum analyst Joe Brent said in a note that the move could
spark a bidding war, given growing consolidation in the
industry. He declined to comment on Monday.
The stake in Atkins opens up another front in Europe for
Elliott, as it presses Dutch-based paintmaker Akzo Nobel to open
takeover talks with U.S. suitor PPG Industries, and separately
campaigns for a restructuring at Anglo-Australian miner BHP
Billiton.
Elliott's stake in Atkins makes it the second-biggest
shareholder, Thomson Reuters data showed, just behind asset
manager Columbia Threadneedle.
A spokeswoman for Elliott declined to comment on why the firm
had taken a stake in Atkins. Spokesmen for Atkins and for SNC
also declined to comment.
($1 = 1.3482 Canadian dollars)
(Additional reporting by Justin Varghese and Esha Vaish in
Bangalore and Allison Lampert in Montreal)
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