On April 19, the largest (22.4 percent) stakeholder in Australia-based low-volatile metallurgical coal producer Macarthur Coal, CITIC Resources Australia Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese investment group CITIC Holdings said that it is in no position to comment on US coal giant Peabody Energy Corp.'s revised proposal to takeover Macarthur based on the current limited information available to CITIC.
"We also note that the Macarthur board has maintained its recommendation in relation to the Noble/Gloucester transactions. CITIC remains supportive of the rationale for the Noble/Gloucester transactions, which CITIC believes is in line with the vision to build Macarthur into a leading independent coal company," CITIC said.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, at the end of last week Macarthur Coal announced that the company intends to enter discussions with Peabody Energy regarding its revised proposal to acquire the whole of Macarthur, postponing a stakeholder vote for the future of the company scheduled for April 19 to an unspecified date. Peabody revealed a sweetened third offer on April 15 to takeover the company for AU$16 per share or a total of AU$4.1 billion (US$3.8 billion).
Macarthur Coal Limited had announced on February 26 that its board confirmed a bid to takeover New South Wales-based Gloucester, which operates mines in the Hunter Valley and is largely owned by Hong Kong-based Noble Group. The coal producer is offering Gloucester shareholders 0.84 Macarthur shares for every one Gloucester share held or AU$8 a share. Gloucester has recommended shareholders accept Macarthur's offer, while Macarthur rejected previous proposals by Peabody and Australian coal producer New Hope.
The second and third largest stakeholders in Macarthur, South Korean steel giant POSCO and Luxembourg-based steel colossus ArcelorMittal, last week stated that Peabody's offer should be considered.