News: Australia Broadspectrum rejects higher Ferrovial takeover bid

SYDNEY, April 6 (Reuters) - Australian detention camp operator Broadspectrum Ltd (BRS) on Wednesday urged shareholders to reject an improved A$769 million ($581 million) takeover offer from Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial SA FER.MC, saying the new bid still undervalues the target.

Ferrovial said earlier it was raising its original January offer - flatly rejected by Broadspectrum - by 11 percent. It said the latest offer of A$1.50 per share, up from A$1.35, was "its best and final", extending the deadline for acceptances to May 2.

Broadspectrum Chairman Diane Smith-Gander said the target's board welcomed the increased offer, but it was still not high enough. "As such the board unanimously recommends that shareholders reject the Revised Offer," she said in a statement.

Shares in Broadspectrum, which runs detention camps on the island nation of Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus island, climbed as high as A$1.360 on Wednesday and were last up 2.4 percent at A$1.280. On Tuesday they rose 7.8 percent to close at A$1.250, but were still some way off their January peak of A$1.410. ($1 = 1.3245 Australian dollars)