Australian coal producer New Hope Corp., in rivalry with US coal giant Peabody Energy Corp. and Hong Kong's Noble Group Ltd. for control of Macarthur Coal Ltd., has announced a revised offer to acquire 100 percent of shares in leading low-volatile metallurgical coal producer Australia-based Macarthur for a total of AU$950 million (US$885 million) in cash.
According to the offer revealed by New Hope on April 14, Macarthur shareholders can choose to accept either the unchanged share offer of 2.7 New Hope shares for one of theirs, or AU$14.50 cash for each share.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, 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 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 proposals by Peabody and New Hope.
"New Hope's offer is highly attractive for all Macarthur shareholders and is superior to all other announced proposals," New Hope chairman Robert Millner said in the statement.
Chinese investment group CITIC Group, European steel giant ArcelorMittal and South Korea's POSCO are the largest stakeholders in Macarthur.
According to a Macarthur statement, as CITIC group gives open support to the Gloucester deal, the other two largest stakeholders have not made their minds about how to vote in the stakeholders vote about the future of the company on April 19.