PERTH, April 7 (Reuters) - Australia's Macarthur Coal rejected on Wednesday a sweetened A$3.56 billion ($3.27 billion) bid from top U.S. coal miner Peabody Energy, sending its shares 4 percent lower.
The rejection puts the onus back onto Peabody to contemplate a higher offer ahead of an April 12 vote by Macarthur shareholders on a rival plan to take over Gloucester Coal .
'The ball's in their court at the moment. It's up to Peabody as to whether they'll make another bid,' a spokesman for Macarthur said.
Macarthur said Peabody's new bid did not represent an adequate premium and it will go ahead with the Gloucester vote, which Peabody fiercely opposes as it would give Gloucester's main shareholder, Hong Kong-based commodities firm Noble Group , a one-fourth stake in Macarthur.
'Peabody's revised proposal remains highly conditional and does not fully value Macarthur and its significant growth prospects,' Macarthur Chairman Keith De Lacy said in a statement.'
Shares in Macarthur, the world's biggest exporter of pulverized or PCI coal, fell 4.04 percent to A$14.49 by 0114 GMT. But they remain above Peabody's sweetened A$14 bid.
Macarthur's top three shareholders -- China's CITIC Resources Holdings and steel giants ArcelorMittal SA and South Korea's POSCO -- who together own 47.3 percent of Macarthur, have declined to comment on Peabody's tilt.
A source at Posco told Reuters the steelmaker plans on being a long-term shareholder in Macarthur and wants to keep its stakes.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul and Fayen Wong; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)
((sonali.paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 3 9286 1419; Reuters Messaging: sonali.paul.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MACARTHUR PEABODY/ (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The rejection puts the onus back onto Peabody to contemplate a higher offer ahead of an April 12 vote by Macarthur shareholders on a rival plan to take over Gloucester Coal .
'The ball's in their court at the moment. It's up to Peabody as to whether they'll make another bid,' a spokesman for Macarthur said.
Macarthur said Peabody's new bid did not represent an adequate premium and it will go ahead with the Gloucester vote, which Peabody fiercely opposes as it would give Gloucester's main shareholder, Hong Kong-based commodities firm Noble Group , a one-fourth stake in Macarthur.
'Peabody's revised proposal remains highly conditional and does not fully value Macarthur and its significant growth prospects,' Macarthur Chairman Keith De Lacy said in a statement.'
Shares in Macarthur, the world's biggest exporter of pulverized or PCI coal, fell 4.04 percent to A$14.49 by 0114 GMT. But they remain above Peabody's sweetened A$14 bid.
Macarthur's top three shareholders -- China's CITIC Resources Holdings and steel giants ArcelorMittal SA and South Korea's POSCO -- who together own 47.3 percent of Macarthur, have declined to comment on Peabody's tilt.
A source at Posco told Reuters the steelmaker plans on being a long-term shareholder in Macarthur and wants to keep its stakes.
(Reporting by Sonali Paul and Fayen Wong; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)
((sonali.paul@thomsonreuters.com; +61 3 9286 1419; Reuters Messaging: sonali.paul.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MACARTHUR PEABODY/ (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to news.feedback.asia@thomsonreuters.com) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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