Medco raises bid to acquire Novus

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.