HELSINKI (Reuters) - The board of Finnish engineering company Metso (>> Metso Oyj) has rejected Britain's Weir's (>> The Weir Group PLC) approach regarding a potential combination of the two rivals, the company said on Wednesday.

"The board of directors... has come to the unanimous conclusion that this proposal is not in the best interest of shareholders," Metso said.

A source told Reuters earlier this month that Weir had proposed an all-share deal in which Metso shareholders would receive 40 percent of the new company, and that the tie-up could be worth 3.9 billion euros (3.2 billion pounds).

(Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; editing by Jason Neely)

Stocks treated in this article : Metso Oyj, The Weir Group PLC