Peabody Energy raises offer for Australian miner
Written on April 17, 2010
Having been spurned twice by the board of Macarthur Coal Ltd., Peabody Energy Corp. again raised its offer for the Australian miner as it seeks to add new coal reserves to help feed growing Asian energy demand.
Peabody’s latest offer of $3.8 billion in cash is 14 percent above its previous offer of $3.3 billion and 27 percent higher than its initial bid of $3 billion.
The St. Louis-based company said its new proposal represents a 39 percent premium to Macarthur’s average share price in the 30 days leading up to the first Peabody offer on March 30, and is “clearly superior” to the other outstanding bid for Macarthur by Australia’s New Hope Corp.
Peabody said its offer is also a better deal for shareholders than Macarthur’s December agreement to buy Gloucester Coal Ltd.
In a statement issued Thursday, Macarthur said its board will meet Friday to review Peabody’s latest proposal cheap pay day loans.
Queensland-based Macarthur has said Peabody’s previous offers didn’t fully value the company, which is in the midst of an aggressive expansion. Macarthur has likewise rejected New Hope’s bid.
The latest Peabody bid is equal to 16 Australian dollars per Macarthur share. In a research note Thursday, Jefferies & Co. analyst Michael Dudas said he "would be surprised if (Peabody) management bid much higher."
As it has in its two previous offers, Peabody said it would allow Macarthur’s three largest shareholders to keep their ownership stakes. Steelmakers Citic Resources Ltd., ArcelorMittal and POSCO collectively own 47 percent of the company.
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