Noble Group 01 (May 08 - May 10)

[profittaker]

(Reuters) - Australia's Macarthur Coal (MCC.AX) postponed a shareholder vote on whether to take over a smaller rival, leaving the door open for major coal producers to bid for Macarthur, the world's top producer of a cleaner coal sought after by steelmakers.

[profittaker]

Global bidding war to snare Macarthur
April 10, 2010 12:00AM

THREE-way bidding war for Macarthur Coal threatens to erupt after fellow Queensland miner New Hope and Swiss Xstrata join the fray.

Hong Kong's Noble Group stands as the fourth party set to play a key role in the shake-up of Queensland's coal industry.

Last night, Macarthur deferred by a week Monday's shareholder vote on its acquisition of Hunter Valley miner Gloucester Coal, after learning an investment bank representing Xstrata had approached a major shareholder.

But it is understood Xstrata, being advised by Macquarie, has approached Macarthur's three biggest shareholders -- Citic, ArcelorMittal and Posco -- with a $4bn, or $16-a-share proposal to merge some of its Queensland coking coal assets with Macarthur to create a miner with double Macarthur's current mining assets.

http://m.theaustralian.com.au/BusinessB ... B489F96571

[profittaker]

Noble not so noble in PR work
Apr 14, 2010 8:31am
NOBLE Group, which has been dropping a very noisy bucket on Peabody's attempts to take over Macarthur Coal, has been moved to unaccustomed silence.
You may remember the press releases about Peabody's offer having all the appeal of a road-killed kangaroo, plus a bit of Shakespeare about how Peabody doth protest too much.
What Noble was trying to do was highlight some of the shortcomings of Peabody's indicative bid, which looked at putting big shareholders into an unlisted vehicle.
"They wanted to attract some attention to that," said one informed source.
And how. The authors, by the way, are believed to be Noble's investor relations manager Stephen Brown, an Englishman, and Boston-born PR guru Brad Smolar working together, with Smolar providing US spelling of words like "check" and "math". Neither man is known to have any close familiarity with dead kangaroos.
Where they have hit trouble is in how they've stressed how keen the big holders of Macarthur Coal shares are on the planned asset swap between Macarthur and Noble over Gloucester Coal, due to be being voted on by Macarthur shareholders next Monday, April 19. That deal was under way before Peabody came along.
In recent days both Posco and ArcelorMittal, which jointly hold 24.6 per cent of Macarthur, have come out and stated they haven't decided which way they will vote, which is a long way from what Noble said to the Singapore Stock Exchange last Friday under the catchy heading "Exasperated".
"We just don't get it. The boards of both Macarthur and Gloucester support the Gloucester-Macarthur merger.
"And, wait for this . . . so do the three largest shareholders of Macarthur."
One kind soul suggested that those steel companies like the deal, but don't like having their punches telegraphed, but several analysts were yesterday dismissive of Noble's ad hominem approach in its PR campaign, calling it unprofessional.
"Macarthur shareholders are going to wonder what sort of company Noble is, given Noble is going to end up with 25 per cent of Macarthur if the deal goes through," said one.

[profittaker]

Gloucester doubles coal prices; demand buoyant

PERTH, April 15 (Reuters) - Australian miner Gloucester Coal Ltd has secured a near 100 percent price increase for its semi-hard coking coal contracts with Asian buyers and also reached agreement to move to quarterly pricing.
The price increase implies that Gloucester secured a price of around $180 per tonne for semi-hard coking coal for the first quarter of the Japanese fiscal year 2011, compared to around $90 last year.
Gloucester's deal narrows the price discount to hard coking coal after BHP Billiton Ltd, the kingpin for steelmaking coal, set prices at $200 per tonne this year, underscoring Asia's surging demand for the steelmaking material.
"Semi-hard coking coal was sold at around a 25 percent discount to the premium coking coal price benchmark last year, but now it has reduced to just about 10 percent," said National Australia Bank's resource analyst Ben Westmore.
"Clearly, its reflective of the strong demand and difficulties producers face to keep pace with demand."
Analysts at Citigroup this week forecast hard coking coal prices would peak at $300 a tonne by the December this year.
In the first break in annual price talks this year, Japan's JFE Holdings Inc, the world's sixth-biggest steelmaker, last month had agreed to pay BHP $200 per tonne for coking coal for shipments between April 1 and June 30 -- representing a 55 percent over the benchmark price of $129 for the 2009/10 financial year.
Gloucester is a junior producer in Australia with two mines in New South Wales state producing a combined 2.8 million tonnes of coking and thermal coal each year.
Macarthur Coal Ltd has agreed with Gloucester's majority shareholder Noble Group to buyout Gloucester, but the deal is now in limbo after Macarthur became a takeover target.

[profittaker]

ON THE TABLE The board of Macarthur Coal is yet to recommend the latest $16 a share offer from Peabody Energy. However, having announced that it will engage with the St Louis-based suitor, a board recommendation is now a mere formality.

Until Friday, Macarthur had refused to talk to the company's three corporate suitors, pointing to a commitment made to Gloucester Coal last December not to engage with potential acquirers unless they first put forward a "superior proposal" to Macarthur's plan to acquire Gloucester.

In opening the door to talks with Peabody, Macarthur has effectively declared that the $4.1 billion offer is superior to remaining independent and proceeding with the Gloucester acquisition. As a consequence, a board recommendation must follow completion of Peabody's requested five-day due diligence period.

While the $16 offer is set to be recommended, investors are tipping that (with three bidders in the fray) the current offer will not be the last. Macarthur shares surged 8.25 per cent on Friday, closing at $16.54.

[winston]

Hi profittaker,

Thanks for the kind article.

We would appreciate if you can mention the source of your articles in your postings and if possible, please do also include the link for the article.

Thanks and take care,
Winston

[profittaker]

Citic is on the Board of Macarthur and CITIC is a chinese company. Noble is backed by Chinese company, while Peabody is a US company. I think Noble has not lost the battle yet.

Top Macarthur Coal shareholder weighs Peabody bid
MELBOURNE
Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:38pm EDT
Credit: Reuters/Macarthur Coal/Handout

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - U.S. miner Peabody Energy (BTU.N) faces an uphill battle to win support for its $3.8 billion bid for Macarthur Coal (MCC.AX) from the Australian miner's board and biggest shareholder.

Deals

Top shareholder CITIC Resources (1205.HK) said it had not yet decided whether to support the A$16 a share offer from Peabody, which trumped a rival bid and persuaded Macarthur to stall its own plan to take over Gloucester Coal (GCL.AX), a smaller rival.

CITIC Resources, a founding shareholder of Macarthur with 22.4 percent, said it continued to support the rationale for Macarthur's takeover of Gloucester, but needed more information in order to evaluate Peabody's offer and make a final decision.

Macarthur shares eased a touch to A$16.50 on Monday, 3 percent above the offer price in a weaker overall market .AXJO, indicating investors expect bidding could still go a little higher.

"Peabody's bid is now close to what will be accepted. It's now a question of negotiation unless Xstrata (XTA.L) comes in. Then it's a different ball game," said Tom Elliott, head of hedge fund MM&E Capital.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63I04L20100419

[profittaker]

Game over.

Macarthur, Gloucester Deal Defeated by Noble Group Vote

April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Noble Group Ltd. said the merger proposal between Macarthur Coal Ltd. and Gloucester Coal Ltd. was defeated by shareholders in a vote held in Hong Kong today.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alan Soughley at [email protected]

[profittaker]

Noble Group Ltd: Positioned for growth regardless of Macarthur deal

Summary: Having visited Noble Group’s (Noble) coal operations in Australia and soybean operations in Argentina, we remain positive on the group’s growth strategy. Noble is poised to leverage on rising coal markets via its stakes in Gloucester Coal and Donaldson Coal. Management is especially upbeat on coking coal, a product it believes to be structurally short owing to strong steel demand in China and India. The group recently expanded its soybean capabilities with a new oilseed processing complex in Argentina. It aims to double the size and triple the margins of its soybean operations by expanding in the processing market. Noble has multiple growth engines which will drive medium term earnings growth and we do not expect the recent fallout of the Macarthur deal to have significant impact on its prospects. We maintain our BUY rating and keep our S$3.75 fair value estimate intact. (Lee Wen Ching)

Source: OCBC Research
http://www.ocbcresearch.com/Article.asp ... 3510_18286

[winston]

On CNBC:-

Ray Barros mentioned that Noble's Support level is around Sin$2.50