Macarthur shares halted again
April 6, 2010
Macarthur Coal Limited (MCC) entered a trading halt again Tuesday morning ahead of an updated announcement on the proposed takeover by US coal mining giant Peabody Resources. Just last week Macarthur spurned a $3.3 billion takeover offer from Peabody and said it would forge ahead with a vote on April 12 on its plan for Macarthur to take over Gloucester Coal and issue Macarthur shares to Gloucester’s largest shareholder, Singaporean-based Noble Group.
Peabody, in turn, has said that its offer is ‘clearly superior’ and urged the Macarthur not to go ahead with the April 12 vote.
Meanwhile, complicating matters, Noble Group, which owns 87% of Gloucester Coal said it would offer $12.60 for the remaining 13% it doesn’t own.
The news comes amid reports that the plays seen in the Macarthur Coal saga will be played out by other Aussie miners as mergers and acquisitions ramp up in 2010.
Certainly, the mergers and acquisition rumours have firmly hit Riversdale and Whitehaven share price since the Peabody offer for Macarthur Coal. Their share prices had risen by another 6.2% and 4.7% by late-morning Tuesday, extending strong gains from last week.
The two coal miners are listed in the top three mining stocks as potential takeover targets, according to a Citigroup report publish on 25 March.
Coming in top place was Medusa Mining, which has proven to be less popular with investors in recent days. Its shares have fallen 2c this morning.
In other mergers and acquisition news, just last week Lihir Gold rejected Newcrest Mining’s $9.2 billion bid for the company, drawing fire from some analysts who said the deal was fair value for the miner and should have been put to shareholders.
According to a recent Ernst & Young report the surge in growth in China and India would continue to underpin the recovery into the long term for Australia’s mining sector.
The report said that this would drive mergers and acquisitions in 2010, albeit on smaller scale than pre GFC mega-mergers.
”Many mining and metals companies that are preoccupied with debt reduction are looking to organize growth and strategic bolt-on acquisitions before valuations become too expensive,” Ernst and Young said in its report.
According to the report Australia was the number one country for acquisitions in 2009, while China was the number one buyer.
The report, however also expressed a cautionary note, saying that sovereign and legal risk could cloud the M&A space.
Peabody, in turn, has said that its offer is ‘clearly superior’ and urged the Macarthur not to go ahead with the April 12 vote.
Meanwhile, complicating matters, Noble Group, which owns 87% of Gloucester Coal said it would offer $12.60 for the remaining 13% it doesn’t own.
The news comes amid reports that the plays seen in the Macarthur Coal saga will be played out by other Aussie miners as mergers and acquisitions ramp up in 2010.
Certainly, the mergers and acquisition rumours have firmly hit Riversdale and Whitehaven share price since the Peabody offer for Macarthur Coal. Their share prices had risen by another 6.2% and 4.7% by late-morning Tuesday, extending strong gains from last week.
The two coal miners are listed in the top three mining stocks as potential takeover targets, according to a Citigroup report publish on 25 March.
Coming in top place was Medusa Mining, which has proven to be less popular with investors in recent days. Its shares have fallen 2c this morning.
In other mergers and acquisition news, just last week Lihir Gold rejected Newcrest Mining’s $9.2 billion bid for the company, drawing fire from some analysts who said the deal was fair value for the miner and should have been put to shareholders.
According to a recent Ernst & Young report the surge in growth in China and India would continue to underpin the recovery into the long term for Australia’s mining sector.
The report said that this would drive mergers and acquisitions in 2010, albeit on smaller scale than pre GFC mega-mergers.
”Many mining and metals companies that are preoccupied with debt reduction are looking to organize growth and strategic bolt-on acquisitions before valuations become too expensive,” Ernst and Young said in its report.
According to the report Australia was the number one country for acquisitions in 2009, while China was the number one buyer.
The report, however also expressed a cautionary note, saying that sovereign and legal risk could cloud the M&A space.
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