Macarthur Coal and its deal partner, Noble Group of Hong Kong, seem to be going their separate ways as Peabody Energy lifted its proposed offer for Macarthur by 8% to $A14 a share yesterday.
After a day of rapid announcements it now seems Macarthur is at the mercy of Peabody, and Noble Group has bid to clean up the 12% or so of NSW-based Gloucester Coal it doesn’t own at a total cost of $127 million.
That deal will only happen if the Macarthur takeover of Gloucester (87.7% owned by Noble) doesn’t happen.
Peabody removed several conditions from its new bid for Macarthur, such as board support from the target company.
That has made the deal hostile.
In its third statement yesterday Macarthur detailed the higher offer from Peabody.
Macarthur shares last traded at $14.87 before Easter, but jumped in late trading yesterday after the halt was lifted.
They ended up 23c at $15 as punters speculated on a higher offer from somewhere.
"The Board of Macarthur will meet shortly to consider the merits of Peabody’s Revised Indicative Proposal," the company said in the third statement yesterday.
"Shareholders are advised to take no action in relation to the Revised Indicative Proposal or any documentation received from Peabody until they receive the Directors’ formal recommendation."
Noble and Macarthur were heading towards a series of deals that would have seen the Chinese government-backed Noble Group emerge with a 24.6% stake in Macarthur, in exchange for selling Gloucester and some interest in Queensland coal projects to the Brisbane-based miner.
One of those was a stake in Macarthur’s Middlemount project in central Queensland.
Macarthur shareholders were due to meet next Monday to approve the deals with Noble, whose shareholders were to meet a week later in Hong Kong, according to a notice of meeting released yesterday and pointed to by Macarthur in the first of yesterday’s statements to the ASX.
That was followed by Gloucester and then Macarthur asking for trading in their shares to be halted pending announcements from Noble and Peabody.
These came late in the morning.
Peabody’s offer puts another $250 million on the table for Macarthur.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, holds 16.6% of Macarthur and South Korea’s Posco owns 8.3%. Citic Australia Coal Ltd. has 22.4%.
Peabody is offering alternatives to the three groups should they wish to keep their stakes in Macarthur.
But in its latest statement Peabody said its offer was not conditional on their part either.
"While Peabody continues to offer alternatives to the three major shareholders to retain their original interest in Macarthur, Peabody’s offer is not contingent on their commitment provided the Macarthur Board supports our proposal.
"Peabody today repeated its request to the Macarthur Board to delay its 12 April 2010 shareholders’ meeting, so that its shareholders may have the opportunity to consider Peabody’s proposal and realize a cash premium for their shares," the company said in the latest statement.
Macarthur directors said that until advised otherwise, shareholders should assume that the April 12 meeting remains on.
Noble moved to secure full ownership of Gloucester by offering $A127 million, or $A12.60 a share, for the 12.3%.
Gloucester’s last trade last Thursday was $9.31, so the premium is substantial and an indication of Noble’s determination to mop up the rump of shareholders.
