Gloucester Coal shares surge after Noble bid

SYDNEY, April 7 (Reuters) - Shares of Gloucester Coal surged at much as 28 percent on Wednesday after Singapore's Noble Groups offered to buy out Gloucester at A$12.60 a share if its takeover by Macarthur fell through.

At 0305 GMT, Gloucester shares traded up 25.7 percent at A$11.70 per share while the underlying index was up 0.2 percent.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Michael Perry) (If you have a query or comment on this story, send an email to [e-mail]) Keywords: GLOUCESTER/SHARES ([e-mail]; [phone]; [e-mail]) 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.