Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) may well be out of the race to buy Ahstralia’s Rocklands Richfield Ltd after Chinese coal producer Meijin Energy topped its bid.
The Australian miner is yet to inform stock exchanges of any revised Jindal bid before the November 4 (6 pm Perth time, 1.30 pm IST)deadline.
Meijin offered 52 Australian cents for each share (or A$154 million),
Sydney-based Rocklands said on Thursday.That’s almost 24% more than the 42 cents a share (or A$121 million) offered by Jindal in September.
“The directors of Rocklands have written to Jindal to notify them of the Meijin proposal and to invite Jindal to match the Meijin proposal by 6 pm Perth time on November 4, 2009. Rocklands will keep shareholders informed as to whether Jindal submits a revised proposal,” Rocklands said. The company did not inform the stock exchange about any revised bid till the time the Australian market closed on November 5.
Sushil Maroo, director (finance), Jindal, declined to comment. However, another official, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “The company is still very keen on the deal.”
He did not confirm whether his company has submitted a revised bid.
The Rocklands board has acknowledged the superiority of the Chinese deal. “After careful consideration of the terms of the Meijin proposal, the board of Rocklands has determined that the Meijin proposal is superior to that of JSPL,” the Rocklands statement said.
Meijin’s proposal is conditional on it acquiring 19.9% to 90% of Rocklands.
Meijin has also proposed that if the company acquires the above said stake in Rocklands, then Meijin will be appointed the Contractual Manager and Operator of Rockland’s Chang Yuan (Huaibei) Chemical’s and Coking Co Ltd and Meijin will help Rocklands to complete its new coking oven project at its Huaibei coking plant.
Jindal holds 14.16% stake in Rocklands. It had raised its holding through various open market transactions over the past several days.
Comments