PEAMCoal closer to Macarthur takeover

Finance

Twentymile coal mine in Colorado - Peabody mine

Publishing Date: 21 Oct 2011 11:53am GMT
Author: Mining Journal

PEAMCoal, the joint venture entity of Peabody Energy Corp and ArcelorMittal SA, has moved to the verge of taking control of Macarthur Coal Ltd.

The joint venture partners now hold more than 49% of Macarthur after key shareholder Citic Resources Holdings Ltd decided to accept the A$16/share offer for its 25.2% interest in the coal miner.

In addition, PEAMCoal has increased its offer to A$16.25/share if it acquires at least 90% of Macarthur by November 11. Reaching this mark would allow PEAMCoal to compulsory acquire all of Macarthur’s outstanding shares.

Gregory Boyce, Peabody chairman and chief executive officer, said: “We are pleased that these shareholders have decided to accept our offer, which delivers full value to Macarthur shareholders.

“With the latest positive developments, we now urge all Macarthur shareholders to accept our offer as soon as possible, in order to maximise their chances of receiving an increased offer price.”

PEAMCoal’s offer for Macarthur valued the company at about A$4.8 billion (US$5.1 billion), which was a 48% premium to its one-month volume-weighted average price prior to July 11.