British natural gas producer BG Group PLC yesterday raised its bid to buy Australia’s Origin Energy Ltd, the country’s second-largest power company, to A$13.8 billion (US$13 billion).
BG Group’s hostile takeover attempt follows a bid last month that was initially endorsed by Origin’s board, but later rejected after a separate deal in the industry caused Origin executives to rethink the company’s value.
BG Group said in a filing yesterday with the Australian Securities Exchange that it was offering A$15.50 per share for Origin, for a total of A$13.8 billion. That’s 5.4 percent more than the A$14.70 BG Group offered in its initial bid.
BG Group said that the offer represented a 48 percent cash premium on Origin’s closing price of A$10.47 on April 29, just before it announced its first offer.
“Recent transactions, analyzed on a comparable basis, confirm that BG Group’s offer provides full value to Origin’s shareholders,” CEO Frank Chapman said.
“It doesn’t need an increase in price — it is a good offer as it stands,” Chapman said.
Origin issued a statement after the new bid that advised shareholders to “take no action at this stage.” Its shares rose more than 5 percent to A$16.36 in trading yesterday.
Origin’s board last month endorsed BG Group’s initial offer, but then changed tack and declined to put the offer before shareholders after news broke of a deal between Malaysia’s national oil company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd or Petronas, and Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd.
The A$2.6 billion Petronas-Santos partnership to build a liquefied natural gas plant using coal seam gas set a new benchmark for valuing those resources, analysts said.
At the time, Origin managing director Grant King said the company’s coal seam gas assets made the company far more valuable than the price being offered by BG Group.
BG Group said yesterday that the Santos-Petronas deal was not a relevant price benchmark for Origin’s coal seam gas reserves.
BG Group’s offer is based on a minimum acceptance condition of 50.1 percent.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique