US miner Peabody ups the ante for world's biggest exporter of pulverised coal
05:55 AM Apr 16, 2010SYDNEY - United States firm Peabody Energy yesterday raised its takeover offer for Australia's Macarthur Coal to A$4.07 billion ($5.2 billion) from a previous A$3.56 billion in an attempt to deliver the knockout blow in a fierce takeover battle for the world's biggest exporter of pulverised coal.
The bid may be high enough to force Macarthur to reconsider its proposed takeover of fellow Australian miner Gloucester Coal and associated transactions with Singapore-listed Noble Group.
It could also flush out a rival bid for Macarthur from Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata, which Macarthur said had approached its major shareholders but has yet to launch a formal offer.
Peabody's latest offer of A$16 in cash for each Macarthur share beats its previous offer of A$14 and trumps a rival bid from Australia's New Hope, which is offering either its own shares or a cash alternative of A$14.50 a share capped at A$950 million.
Peabody's readiness to raise its offer shows companies are becoming increasingly willing to risk placing big bets on an Asian-led recovery in demand for commodities, including pulverised coal.
Two people closely watching the takeover battle told Dow Jones Newswires the fresh bid from Peabody looked like a game-changer that would likely force Macarthur to again delay a shareholder vote on the Gloucester transaction due on Monday. Macarthur has rejected previous offers as too low.
Macarthur's board is to hold a meeting today to consider the proposal. It urged shareholders to take no action on Peabody's bid.
Peabody has warned its proposal would lapse if Macarthur goes ahead with the shareholder vote scheduled for next Monday or if the Gloucester and Noble Group deals proceed, but a Macarthur spokeswoman wouldn't comment on whether Monday's meeting will be postponed.
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