Medco raises bid to acquire Novus
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta-listed energy company PT Medco Energi Internasional has decided to raise its bidding price for Australia's oil and gas producer Novus Petroleum Ltd. to counter a rival bid from Australia-based Sunov Petroleum Pty.
In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on Friday, Medco said that it had raised its bid for Novus to A$1.90 per share from the previous $1.74.
In total, Medco's latest bid for all the issued ordinary shares in Novus is worth around A$350 million (about US$260 million), up from its previous bid of $320 million.
The bid offered by Medco is higher than those of its rival Sunov, which on April 22 had just raised its bid to A$1.85 per share, or A$341 million, from A$1.77 or A$326 million.
Sunov was jointly set up by Novus managing director Bob Williams and Hong Kong-based Crosby Capital Partners to counter the Medco takeover bid.
Medco said that its new bidding price and conditions were more lucrative for Novus shareholders than those offered by Sunov.
"Sunov's latest bid remains subject to a number of conditions, and accordingly any Novus shareholders accepting the bid currently have no certainty that they will be paid the consideration being offered by Sunov," Medco said in the statement.
The offers from both Medco and Sunov, however, are still below the price valued by independent appraiser Grant Samuel & Associates, which valued Novus shares at between A$1.96 and $2.75 a share.
Medco has appointed UBS AG to advise it in the takeover plan, while Sunov is being advised by Macquarie Bank Ltd., and Novus by Merrill Lynch.
Medco -- which was founded by businessman-turned-politician Arifin Panigoro -- was eager to acquire Novus as the latter company's natural gas reserves in Brantas, East Java, had been producing a huge amount of gas at 64 million cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) last year.
Medco once said it would switch to being a gas producer rather than an oil producer, due to the continuing decline of its oil reserves lately.