By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - Funds managed by private equity firm Candover (CDI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) have agreed to buy British oil services company Expro International EXR.L for 1.605 billion pounds.

Expro management said in a statement on Thursday it would recommend the 1,435 pence per share bid from the funds' bidding vehicle Umbrellastream, which also includes Dutch private equity house Alpinvest, to shareholders.

Expro shares, which registered a near 40 percent boost in February when the company announced a bid approach, traded up 10.59 percent at 1,462 pence at 10:25 a.m., suggesting some investors thought a higher bid may be made.

Analysts said this was unlikely, given the high price being offered -- the bid equates to around 30 times earnings for the year to the end of March -- and the fact other parties were invited to bid.

"In the event of a third party entering the arena, we would not expect a significantly higher offer," said Keith Morris, oil analyst at Evolution Securities.

Peter Hitchens, oil analyst at Seymour Pierce, said the bid, which follows the takeovers of oil services firms Abbot Group and Sondex in the past half-year, would lead to higher valuations in the sector and speculation about further deals.

"Amongst our universe of stocks we believe the most vulnerable are Hunting and Lamprell," he said in a research note.

Hunting (HTG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) shares traded up 1.88 percent at 839-1/2 pence, Lamprell (LAM.L: Quote, Profile, Research) was up 2.45 percent at 452-3/4 pence, while Wood Group (WG.L: Quote, Profile, Research), was up 4.62 percent at 458-1/4 pence.