Noble Group 01 (May 08 - May 10)

[winston]

Not vested.

NOBLE GROUP - Commodities trader Noble Group has said in a bid to discourage Peabody Energy from trying to takeover Macarthur Coal that it may exercise its option to increase its stake of Middlemount mine to 50 percent.

Source: Reuters

[millionairemind]

Not vested.

NOBLE GROUP - Commodities trader Noble Group has said in a bid to discourage Peabody Energy from trying to takeover Macarthur Coal that it may exercise its option to increase its stake of Middlemount mine to 50 percent.

Source: Reuters

Again insider information is being revealed to the selected few. Noticed how it showed up on Noble price/vol action yesterday BEFORE this announcement was out.

Our SGX is sleeping at the wheels, AGAIN!

[kennynah]

SGX should NOT be the party to monitor such insider trading.... MAS should be the one doing this job

SGX has an interest to minimize bad publicity.... if they can...they would even help to cover up scandals...

[profittaker]

Not vested.

NOBLE GROUP - Commodities trader Noble Group has said in a bid to discourage Peabody Energy from trying to takeover Macarthur Coal that it may exercise its option to increase its stake of Middlemount mine to 50 percent.

Source: Reuters

Again insider information is being revealed to the selected few. Noticed how it showed up on Noble price/vol action yesterday BEFORE this announcement was out.

Our SGX is sleeping at the wheels, AGAIN!

yes mm, the news was on Internet before it was released officially!

[kennynah]

no one going to jail?

[winston]

IT’S ALL VERY SIMPLE.
6 April 2010, Hong Kong

We at Noble read with interest Peabody's long and convoluted defense of their "indicative offer" for Macarthur. Wow. Their explanation of the merits of their deal went on for paragraph after paragraph and sure was hard to follow.

It reminds us a bit of Shakespeare in Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 2, "Peabody doth protest too much, methinks." They went on and on and on, but in fact, it is quite simple:

1. Take their cash if you don't believe in the future of coal. Keep in mind, if they weren't buying it cheap, even at 14 bucks a share, they wouldn't be doing it. We believe that coal is in a once in a multi-decade bull run. So do Peabody, which is why they are trying to get you to give them a great coal operation for their rapidly depreciating dollars.

2. If you believe in coal for the long-term, and want to stay in a company that intends to develop into the largest independent coal producer in Australia, vote for the Gloucester-Macarthur merger on Monday, April 12.

It really is that simple.


http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/ ... penelement

[profittaker]

6 April 2010 Hong Kong

Highlights

$12.60 per share all cash offer for Gloucester for the remaining shares Noble does not already own
Conditional on the Macarthur Coal takeover bid for Gloucester not proceeding, FIRB and certain prescribed occurrences
Offer represents a substantial premium
Noble Group Limited ("Noble") today announced its intention to make an off market all-cash takeover offer to acquire all the shares in Gloucester Coal Ltd ("Gloucester" -- ASX:GCL) for A$12.60 per share (the "Noble Offer" or the "Offer"). Noble is currently the largest shareholder of Gloucester with 87.7% of Gloucester shares. The Offer will be made through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble.

Noble's Offer represents a:

35.3% premium to the closing price of Gloucester on 1 April 2010;
36.5% premium to the 1 month volume average weighted price of Gloucester shares; and
38.8% premium to the 3 month volume average weighted price of Gloucester shares.

[profittaker]

a Noble statement said. "What we would really like is for the Americans to go back home."

Macarthur Coal considers Peabody's sweetened bid
Macarthur Coal weighs higher Peabody takeover bid, asks shareholders to wait

Associated Press
Last updated: 7:01 a.m., Tuesday, April 6, 2010
SYDNEY -- Macarthur Coal Ltd. on Tuesday was considering a sweetened takeover bid by U.S.-based Peabody Energy of $3.3 billion that would put an end to its own efforts to consolidate Australia's coal industry.

Macarthur, a major exporter of pulverized coal used by steelmakers, asked for a halt in trading in its shares on the Australian stock market while it considered Peabody's bid of 14 Australian dollars ($12.91) per share. Macarthur asked shareholders to take no action until its board of directors releases a recommendation.
Peabody raised its offer after Macarthur last month rejected a bid of 13 Australia dollars per share. The new proposal values the Australian company at AU$3.6 billion.

A key clause of the proposal requires that Macarthur drop its own bid to purchase Gloucester Coal Ltd., a smaller Australian rival. Macarthur's bid for Gloucester was on the path to being accepted and would create a company worth 3.4 billion Australian dollars (US$3 billion).

In response to Peabody's new offer, Gloucester's majority shareholder, Noble Group Ltd. of Hong Kong, offered to take over the smaller Australian company if the Macarthur bid did not proceed.

Noble, which owns nearly 90 percent of Gloucester, said Tuesday it offered AU$12.60 per share -- or AU$127 million -- for the rest of the company. But Noble said it wanted the deal with Macarthur to go ahead as planned and called Peabody "opportunistic and crafty" for its unsolicited bid.

"The entire concept behind the Gloucester-Macarthur merger was to build a truly outstanding multi-mine and port Australian-based coal group with unique access to key markets," a Noble statement said. "What we would really like is for the Americans to go back home."

Peabody has eight mines in Australia and is seeking to broaden its presence in a country rich in coal used in the resurgent steelmaking industry and in demand by key Asian markets such as China.

Macarthur's shares last traded at AU$14.87. Gloucester's shares were also in a trading halt after last trading at AU$9.31.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/st ... zG3sINOjOm

[profittaker]

Australia New Hope makes $3.45 bln offer for Macarthur 13 minutes ago via Thomson Reuters

* New Hope makes all-script $3.45 bln offer

* New Hope's offer at a slight premium over Peabody bid

* Macarthur advises no action for now

* Takeovers Panel declines to intervene (Updates throughout)

PERTH, April 9 (Reuters) - Australian coal miner New Hope Corp <NHC.AX> launched a surprise $3.45 billion rival offer for Macarthur Coal <MCC.AX>, turning the game into a three-way battle with Peabody Energy <BTU.N> and commodities firm Noble Group <NOBG.SI>

New Hope, which ranks smaller than Macarthur in both market value and production capacity, proposed on Friday an all-script deal that which will give 2.7 of its shares for every one Macarthur stock -- representing a total value of A$14.58 per share based on New Hope's last closing price.

New Hope's offer is at a 4.1 percent premium to the A$14-per-share offer by St. Louis-based Peabody earlier this week, which has already been rejected by Macarthur.

"New Hope believes the offer is superior to both the Gloucester transaction and the highly conditional, non-binding, indicative proposal put forward by Peabody Energy Corporation," it said in a statement.

Noble Group has an agreed deal with Macarthur to sell its 87.7 percent stake in Gloucester Coal <GCL.AX>, which would give the Singapore-listed Noble a one-fourth stake in Macarthur.

Peabody has asked Australia's Takeovers Panel to delay Macarthur's April 12 shareholder vote on the Gloucester bid but the panel said on Friday that it would not intervene.

Noble and Peabody declined to comment on Friday.

The fraught manoeuvring over Macarthur reflects the firm's position as the world's biggest exporter of pulverized or PCI coal that is sought after by steelmakers. It is the latest in a flurry of coal deals in Australia, which have seen the number of large independent producers dwindle as mining majors turn to acquisitions to satisfy booming Asian demand.

Macarthur on Friday denied a newspaper report that has received an approach from coal giant Xstrata Plc <XTA.L> and asked its shareholders to take no action at this point on New Hope's offer.

Macarthur's top three shareholders -- China's CITIC Resources Holdings <1205.HK> and steel giants ArcelorMittal SA <ISPA.AS> and South Korea's POSCO <005490.KS> -- have been silent so far on the various offers.

New Hope's spokesman said the firm has not yet made direct contact with Macarthur's shareholders.

The trio hold a combined 47.3 percent stake in Macarthur. ($1=1.077 Australian Dollar) (Additional reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram in SYDNEY) (Reporting by Fayen Wong, Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

[profittaker]

Macarthur rejects New Hope, presses on with Gloucester

Written by Dow Jones & Co, Inc
Friday, 09 April 2010 12:41

Macarthur Coal (MCC.AU) has rebuffed the all-share A$3.71 billion ($4.8 billion) takeover offer from New Hope (NHC.AU) and vows to forge on with its planned Gloucester takeover and associated deals with Noble Group (N21.SG), says Dow Jones.

“The board of Macarthur met this morning and unanimously determined not to recommend the New Hope proposal to shareholders, as the board has formed the view that the scrip ratio of 2.7 New Hope shares for every Macarthur share does not represent an adequate premium for control of the company,” Macarthur says.

Macarthur has already brushed aside a A$3.56 billion cash offer from Peabody (BTU) and said its Monday meeting on the Gloucester/Noble deal will go ahead, although it concedes the meeting can be postponed if there is a “material change in circumstances”. Investors will now be wondering if that material change could come with a bid from Xstrata (XTA.LN), which is reportedly considering joining the bidding war. Macarthur now trading up 10% at A$15.81 as the strong interest in its assets becomes apparent.