WELLINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - Australia's Arrow Energy has received a raised takeover offer worth as much as $3.2 billion from Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina which it has accepted, two newspapers said on Monday.
An Arrow spokesman said the company would make an announcement shortly but declined to comment further. The managing director of New Hope Corp, Arrow's biggest shareholder, declined to comment on one report that said the group was willing to accept the revised offer.
Shell and PetroChina have raised their offer to around A$4.70-A$4.80 per share from a previous A$4.45 and Arrow will likely announce on Monday that it has accepted the proposal, The Australian newspaper said on Monday without naming its sources.
The Australian Financial Review said the parties have settled on an offer of A$4.70 cash a share plus a share in Arrow's Asian exploration assets.
Arrow's shares were placed on trading halt on Friday pending an update on the bid. Its shares last traded at A$5.29 as investors had been anticipating a raised offer.
The Australian said that Arrow's international assets, including exploration and coal-seam gas projects in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and India will remain in a renamed Arrow under the existing management team and board.
Analysts had said the March 8 offer from Shell and PetroChina, which valued the company at A$3.3 billion ($3.02 billion), was too low given Arrow's exposure to Australia's booming coal-seam gas sector.
($1=A$1.09)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul and Adrian Bathgate; editing by Balazs Koranyi)
((adrian.bathgate@reuters.com; +64-4-4714233; Reuters Messaging: adrian.bathgate.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: ARROWENERGY/ (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.
An Arrow spokesman said the company would make an announcement shortly but declined to comment further. The managing director of New Hope Corp, Arrow's biggest shareholder, declined to comment on one report that said the group was willing to accept the revised offer.
Shell and PetroChina have raised their offer to around A$4.70-A$4.80 per share from a previous A$4.45 and Arrow will likely announce on Monday that it has accepted the proposal, The Australian newspaper said on Monday without naming its sources.
The Australian Financial Review said the parties have settled on an offer of A$4.70 cash a share plus a share in Arrow's Asian exploration assets.
Arrow's shares were placed on trading halt on Friday pending an update on the bid. Its shares last traded at A$5.29 as investors had been anticipating a raised offer.
The Australian said that Arrow's international assets, including exploration and coal-seam gas projects in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and India will remain in a renamed Arrow under the existing management team and board.
Analysts had said the March 8 offer from Shell and PetroChina, which valued the company at A$3.3 billion ($3.02 billion), was too low given Arrow's exposure to Australia's booming coal-seam gas sector.
($1=A$1.09)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul and Adrian Bathgate; editing by Balazs Koranyi)
((adrian.bathgate@reuters.com; +64-4-4714233; Reuters Messaging: adrian.bathgate.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: ARROWENERGY/ (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.